Mumbai: Air India pilot found dead in flat; boyfriend arrested for 'abetment of suicide'

They claimed that her Delhi-based boyfriend Aditya Pandit (27) used to constantly abuse her in public and was dominating exerting control over her choices, including what she ate, forbidding her from eating non-vegetarian food.

On Tuesday, the Powai police in Mumbai arrested Delhi-based Aditya Pandit, 27, on charges of abetment to suicide. The court has sent him to police custody until November 29. The police, however, did not find any suicide note near her body or in her flat.

Tuli, who hailed from an army family from Gorakhpur in UP, was found dead in her rented accommodation behind Marol Police Camp in Andheri (East) early on Monday. She had been living in Mumbai for work since June 2023, after getting her commercial pilot license and a job in Air India.

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Tragic ending

Two years ago, Srishti and Pandit met in Delhi while training for a commercial pilot's license. They fell in love and were in a relationship.

The police told the media that initial inquiries indicated that Tuli may have been mentally disturbed because of Pandit’s controlling behaviour. Moreover, Pandit had been preparing for a pilot’s exam but failed to qualify, they added.

Just before her death, he had been staying with her for a couple of days before returning to Delhi. According to Pandit, Tuli called him to say she was ending her life and he rushed back and took her to Seven Hills Hospital in Marol, where Tuli was declared dead.

The police said the post-mortem report indicates the cause of death to be suicide.

The FIR

The woman’s uncle Vivekkumar Tuli, who runs a gas agency in Gorakhpur, however, in his statement to the police, said he spoke to her friends and colleagues who shared how Pandit misbehaved with her.

In the FIR, Vivekkumar said that once when Tuli missed Pandit’s sister’s engagement due to work, he refused to speak to her for nearly 10 days. "He used to harass her a lot, but Tuli loved him a lot,” Vivekkumar said.

News reports said that CCTV footage from Tuli’s society revealed that she reached home after work on Sunday. She allegedly also spoke to her mother over the phone and did not give any indication of her sorrow. Vivekkumar alleged in the FIR that this showed she died after arguing with Pandit.

Tuli’s last rites were performed in Gorakhpur on Wednesday morning. Her sudden death has left her family in shock.