Maharashtra: Air India woman pilot commits suicide, family alleges boyfriend 'forced her to quit non-veg'

Mumbai: The city police have arrested a Delhi-based man for allegedly forcing a 25-year-old Air India woman pilot to commit suicide in her rented house in Marol area of the city, police officials said here.

According to details, the woman pilot, Srishti Tuli, was found dead at her rented accommodation behind Marol Police Camp in Andheri (East) early on Monday.

Initial inquiries indicated that she was mentally disturbed due to alleged harassment by suspect Aditya Pandit (27), police said.

The deceased pilot's family, based in Gorakhpur of Uttar Pradesh, suspect that accused killed her and was trying to portray it as a suicide.

They alleged that he abused her in public and also stopped her from eating non-vegetarian food.

The family has urged the Mumbai police to thoroughly investigate the matter.

Preliminary police probe has revealed that when Tuli returned home after work on Sunday, she had an argument with Pandit, who had been frequenting her place of late.

At around 1 am, Pandit reportedly left for Delhi. Tuli called him on his phone and allegedly revealed that she was going to take the extreme step.

According to police, Pandit then returned to her place but found the door locked from inside. He called a key maker, got the room opened, and found her lying unresponsive, officers said.

Pandit then rushed her to nearby Seven Hills Hospital in Marol, where Tuli was declared dead. Soon, her family and police were informed of incident.

Officials at the Powai police station said that they have arrested Pandit under section 108 (abetment to suicide) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita on a complaint from Tuli’s family.

“He was on Tuesday produced in a local court, which remanded him to four days’ police custody,” they said.

“The post-mortem report indicates the cause of death to be suicide. We have sent the woman’s phone, which is locked, to a forensic lab to analyse her conversations with the accused. We will soon record statements from her family members, close friends, colleagues and roommates,” officials added.

Tuli’s last rites were performed in the Wednesday morning.

One of Tuli's relatives Vivek Kumar said that “Srishti was the first woman pilot from Gorakhpur and she was honoured by the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister. At her cremation in Gorakhpur, hundreds turned up to pay tributes.”

The incident has left the entire family in a deep shock, he added.