Police probe on into Air India pilot's suicide
Aditya Pandit, who is currently in police custody on charges of abetment of suicide, has reportedly deleted some of his messages with the victim.
An Air India pilot, was found dead at her rented residence in Mumbai's Marol area on November 25 in what is suspected to be a suicide. NDTV, citing police sources, reported that moments before her death, she made a video call to her boyfriend, Aditya Pandit, showing him that she was about to hang herself.
According to reports, the couple had an argument after which Aditya Pandit left for Delhi. The pilot reportedly asked him to stay, but when he refused, she allegedly threatened to take her own life. Following this, she made the video call, which was the last interaction between them, NDTV reported.
Aditya Pandit, who is currently in police custody on charges of abetment of suicide, is said to have deleted some of his messages with the victim. The police are now working to recover these deleted communications, and Aditya’s phone has been sent to forensic experts for analysis, the report added.
Unnamed sources told the publication that there were around 10-11 phone calls exchanged between the two before her death, in addition to several missed calls on the victim's phone.
Pandit claims that he attempted to contact the victim multiple times while en route to her residence, to prevent her from taking any drastic action. When he arrived and found the door locked, he and another woman pilot reportedly used a locksmith to gain access. The police also question the second pilot as part of the investigation.
What pilot's family claims
The pilot’s family, however, has raised doubts about the circumstances of her death, suggesting that she may have been murdered rather than dying by suicide. They pointed to a conversation she had with her mother and aunt just 15 minutes before her death, in which she appeared cheerful. “If she died by suicide, what did he do to push her to this point?” questioned the pilot's uncle. “She spoke to her family, and 15 minutes later, she was dead. What happened in that time?”
According to the official from Powai police station, the victim was from Uttar Pradesh and had been living in Mumbai for work since June last year. She and Aditya Pandit had met while pursuing a commercial pilot course in Delhi two years ago and got into a relationship.
The victim's uncle later approached the police alleging that Aditya Pandit would harass her often and even humiliate her in public. Besides, he had also pressured her to change her food habits, claimed the relative, the official said.
Based on the uncle’s complaint, Aditya Pandit was arrested under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhit section 108 (abetment of suicide). He was produced in a court which remanded him in police custody for four days, the official added.