In a rather shocking incident, a UP based Air India pilot Srishti Tuli was found dead in her rented Mumbai Apartment near the Marol Police Camp in Andheri East, on Monday under mysterious circumstances. The Powai police have arrested Aditya Pandit, a 27-year-old man from Delhi, on charges of abetment to suicide in connection with the case. Her family, hailing from Gorakhpur, has raised suspicions of foul play, alleging that Pandit might have murdered her and staged it as a suicide. They claim he publicly humiliated Tuli and exerted control over her personal choices, including her diet, forbidding her from consuming non-vegetarian food. The family has called on Mumbai police to conduct a comprehensive and unbiased investigation into the matter.
Initial inquiries suggest that Tuli had been emotionally disturbed due to harassment by Pandit. The two had reportedly been in a relationship for some time, and Pandit had recently been spending a lot of time at Tuli’s place. On Sunday, after Tuli returned home from work, she and Pandit had a heated argument. Around 1 a.m. on Monday, Pandit left for Delhi. Tuli allegedly called him and said she was going to harm herself. When Pandit returned, he found her door locked from the inside. He then called a locksmith, entered the room, and found Tuli unresponsive. He immediately rushed her to Seven Hills Hospital in Marol, where she was declared dead. The police and her family were soon informed.
The Powai police arrested Pandit under section 108 (abetment to suicide) of the Indian Penal Code, following a complaint from Tuli's family. He was presented in court on Tuesday and remanded to four days in police custody. The post-mortem report confirmed suicide as the cause of death. Police have sent Tuli’s phone, which was locked, to a forensic lab for analysis, particularly her conversations with Pandit. Further investigations will include statements from her family, friends, colleagues, and roommates.
According to the FIR, Tuli and Pandit met two years ago while training for their Commercial Pilot's License (CPL) in Delhi. After completing her training, Tuli moved to Mumbai in June 2023 to work for Air India. Her uncle, Vivekkumar Tuli, stated that her friends and colleagues revealed that Pandit frequently misbehaved with her and attempted to control her. The FIR noted incidents like Pandit’s refusal to speak to Tuli for nearly ten days after she missed his sister’s engagement due to work. He also reportedly yelled at her publicly, even criticizing her food choices, and at one point damaged her car, leaving her stranded.
CCTV footage from Tuli’s apartment complex shows that she arrived home on Sunday without any signs of distress and spoke to her mother over the phone, making it seem that her death occurred after a confrontation with Pandit. Her family believes Pandit may have drugged her and is suspicious of financial transactions from her bank account, which they suspect he used for blackmail. They plan to share these details with the police. Tuli, the first woman pilot from Gorakhpur, had been honored by the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister. Her tragic death has deeply shocked her family and community, and hundreds gathered to pay tribute at her cremation in Gorakhpur on Wednesday.