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UP techie dies by suicide, blames wife: ‘Throw ashes in drain if…’
The man, a field engineer from Auraiya, worked at a cement firm and married in 2023 after a seven-year relationship with his wife.
A 33-year-old engineer from Uttar Pradesh’s Etawah allegedly died by suicide, leaving behind a video in which he accused his wife and in-laws of harassment.
In the video, he claimed his in-laws had threatened him and filed false cases against him. “If I don't get justice even after my death, throw my ashes into the drain,” he reportedly said in the recording.
Police told NDTV the man had checked into the Jolly Hotel near the Etawah railway station on Thursday. He didn’t step out the next morning, and by evening, hotel staff discovered him hanging in his room, said Superintendent of Police (City) Abhay Nath Tripathi.
He was a resident of the Auraiya district and worked as a field engineer at a cement company. He and his wife had been in a relationship for seven years before marrying in 2023.
Wife ‘threatened’ him over property
In the video he recorded before his death, the engineer alleged that his wife, who was pregnant when she recently took up a private teaching job in Bihar, was forced by her mother to undergo an abortion. He also claimed that his mother-in-law took possession of all her jewellery.
He further said there were no dowry demands at the time of their wedding, but his wife later began threatening to file false cases against his family.
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"My wife threatened me that if I didn't register my house and property in her name, she would implicate my family in a dowry case. Her father, Manoj Kumar, filed a false complaint, and her brother threatened to kill me," he said in the video. He added that his wife started arguing with him daily and that her family supported her actions.
Towards the end of the recording, he apologised to his parents and requested them to "throw [his] ashes into the drain" if justice wasn’t served after his death.
He also spoke about the lack of legal safeguards for men in such cases.
"By the time you get this video, I will be gone from this world. I wouldn't have taken this step if there were a law for men. I couldn't tolerate the harassment by my wife and her family," he said.
According to his brother, the man had left for Kota but made a stop in Etawah. The family was stunned after receiving his video message on Friday morning.
The NDTV report added that a response from his wife and her family is still awaited.
Case resembles Bengaluru techie Atul Subhash’s death
In a similar case, Atul Subhash, a native of Uttar Pradesh residing in Bengaluru’s Munnekollal area, was found dead in his apartment on December 9 last year. Subhash, who had married Nikita Singhania in 2019, had been living apart from her due to marital issues.
Before his death, he left behind a detailed 24-page note and an 81-minute video, in which he accused his wife and her family of harassment. He alleged they demanded large sums of money to settle legal disputes and also claimed that a family court judge in Uttar Pradesh was biased in favour of his in-laws.
Based on a complaint filed by his brother, Bikas Kumar, the Marathahalli police booked Nikita Singhania, her mother Nisha Singhania, her brother Anurag, and her uncle Sushil on charges of abetment to suicide. The complaint included serious allegations—demands of ₹3 crore to drop legal cases and ₹30 lakh in exchange for allowing Subhash to meet his son.
On December 15, Nikita was arrested in Gurugram, Haryana, while her mother and brother were taken into custody in Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh. A Bengaluru court later granted bail to all three on January 4.
(Discussing suicides can be triggering for some. However, suicides are preventable. A few major suicide prevention helpline numbers in India are 011-23389090 from Sumaitri (Delhi-based) and 044-24640050 from Sneha Foundation (Chennai-based))
