Odisha rapper, suffering from depression, commits suicide

Abhinav Singh, a leading rapper whose songs have won millions of views on YouTube, committed suicide amid depression, with his father blaming his estranged wife and her family for the death.

Abhinav, 32, reportedly consumed an unspecified poison at his residence in Bengaluru on February 9, just a week after he had shifted to the Karnataka capital, the police said.Abhinav was based in Odisha.

An officer said Abhinav most probably ordered the poison online.

Abhinav family’s charge

Abhinav's family accused his wife of mentally harassing him, pushing him to the brink. His father, Bijaynanda Singh, an author and academic, has filed a complaint with the police in Cuttack, naming Abhinav's wife, his in-laws and other individuals.

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Abhinav and his wife reportedly separated after she caught him with another woman at a hotel in Bhubaneswar last year.

Wife defends herself

Also, an Odia actress accused him of preventing the release of her music video and allegedly attacking her. Abhinav denied the accusations and said he was the target of a conspiracy.

Abhinav’s wife told NDTV that they had been trying to patch up things and were trying to resolve their misunderstanding.

"His family knows I loved and cared for him," she told NDTV. "I had moved out of my in-laws' house but I loved Abhinav and wanted nothing but the best for him in life."

Suicide note

While the police insisted that he had left behind no suicide note, his distraught mother told the Odiya media that a hand-written note that he left behind had been seized by the police.

Abhinav had previously worked in Bengaluru for many years, as an automation testing engineer.

Pioneering figure

On Tuesday night, Abhinav's body was flown from Bengaluru to Cuttack where the family performed the last rites.

A resident of Cuttack, Abhinav was a pioneering figure in Odisha's hip-hop scene. He was known by his stage name "Juggernaut".