Mumbai Air India pilot’s suicide: Delhi man accused of abetment gets bail

A Mumbai court on Friday granted bail to Aditya Pandit, who was accused on charges of abetment to suicide of 25-year-old Air India pilot Srishti Tuli last month. The court’s decision came after his lawyer argued there was insufficient evidence of criminal intent and no prior complaints against the accused.

During the hearing, the prosecution argued that this could potentially be a case of murder and, given the seriousness of the charges, the accused should not be granted bail.

However, advocate Aniket Nikam, representing the accused in the Dindoshi Sessions Court, contended that the charge of abetment of suicide was not substantiated.

Nikam pointed out that the FIR indicated Srishti had spoken with her mother shortly before dying by suicide, and she appeared normal during the conversation. “Merely because there were some fights between both of them, it would not mean that the applicant had any criminal intent,” he said.

He further argued that, for the charge of abetment to be valid, it must be shown that the victim was left with no alternative but to die by suicide, which was not the case here.

The advocate emphasised that Srishti was “an educated woman”.

“If she was unhappy in the relationship, she could have always walked out of it or if she was being harassed by the accused, she could have complained about it. Neither was there any complaint earlier nor any suicide note and hence it cannot be said that the applicant abetted the suicide,” Nikam said.

Regarding the prosecution’s recent claim of murder, Nikam said it was unsustainable, as even the remand papers made no mention of it.

According to case details, Delhi resident Aditya Pandit was in a relationship with Srishti Tuli. They had an argument on November 25, after which he left for Delhi from her home in Mumbai’s Andheri at night.

Later, she called him and said she would die by suicide, prompting Pandit to return to her house. When he arrived, he found the door locked, and she did not respond.

Pandit broke the lock and found her unconscious. Srishti was rushed to a hospital, where she was declared dead.

He was arrested by the Powai police on November 26, after the police suspected foul play because he broke the lock without informing them.

Srishti’s family members, however, have alleged foul play, claiming she had called her mother 15 minutes before dying by suicide and “sounded happy.”

Aditya was placed in judicial custody, and the police attempted to retrieve WhatsApp chats between him and Srishti from before her death. However, Aditya had deleted the messages from his phone.