Nikita Singhania, 34-year-old techie Atul Subhash’s estranged wife, was picked up by Bengaluru police after she adopted a series of evasive tactics, including changing her location daily and communicating solely on WhatsApp. This was in connection with a case of abetment to suicide filed by Atul’s family. But one mistake—a phone call—and the police managed to zero in on her location in Gurugram, police sources told news agency IANS.
While Nikita was arrested in Gurugram, her mother Nisha Singhania and brother Anurag Singhania were taken into custody in Prayagraj. Her uncle, Sushil Singhania, named as the fourth accused in the case, is still on the run. All four have been remanded in judicial custody for two weeks.
The Singhania family, according to police, had left their house in Uttar Pradesh’s Jaunpur soon after the Bengaluru police filed the case. A team that reached Jaunpur put up notices on the residence, asking family members to appear before the investigating officer within three days. Police also prepared a list of immediate relatives and tried to keep tabs on them. But the family kept in touch only over WhatsApp, making it difficult to track them down.
During this time, Singhanias approached the Allahabad High Court for advance bail. While Nikita started living at a paying guest facility in Gurugram, her mother and brother went into hiding to Jhusi, a city in the Prayagraj district. They are said to have remained in touch with Nikita using WhatsApp calls, which became Nikita’s Achilles’ heel as she unintentionally made a call to her cousin brother. The police traced the location of the tower from where the call was made, which led them to her PG accommodation in Rail Vihar, Gurugram. She was forced to call her mother after detention. The police then tracked Nisha to Jhusi and arrested her.
Later, the custody of Atul’s four-year-old son became a cause of concern. He was left at a relative’s house. Statements of the accused were recorded in the car while transporting them back to Bengaluru. It was a Herculean task for the police to keep Nikita incognito from co-passengers during the wee-hour journey to Bengaluru. The police took every precautionary measure to avoid any news about the detention of the family before their arrival, considering the public uproar following the death of Atul Subhash. Any leak could have led to explosive situations at the airport or elsewhere.
On arrival in Bengaluru, Nikita, her mother, and brother were subjected to medical tests before being produced before a magistrate in the wee hours and remanded to jail. During interrogation, Nikita said she never harassed Atul and that she was the one who was being harassed. She said she would not have left their home if financial gain was her motive. In a 24-page suicide note and an 80-minute video, Atul Subhash accused Nikita and her family of filing false cruelty and dowry harassment cases against him to extort ₹3 crore.
Atul committed suicide at his Bengaluru residence last Monday. The police, however, booked an abetment to suicide case following a complaint from his brother Bikas Kumar. The child’s custody has also been claimed by the family. Preliminary investigations showed that Atul had planned the suicide at least 15 days before, doing google searches related to legal matters and writing the note only three days before his death.
