Candle light vigil held to pay tribute to Bengaluru techie who died by suicide

Bengaluru: Members of an NGO and many others held a candle light vigil in Bengaluru on Thursday to pay tributes to 34-year-old techie, Atul Subhash, who died by suicide earlier this week following alleged harassment by his wife and her family.

Several people gathered at Eco Space, holding candles, mobile flashlights and photographs of Subhash and raised slogans, chanting, “We Want Justice.” Subhash, a tech professional, was found dead by hanging at his residence in Marathahalli on Monday.

Sajeet, a member of the Men’s Rights NGO ‘Save Indian Family Foundation’, expressed deep sorrow, saying, “We are deeply saddened by the tragic loss of Atul Subhash, who succumbed to the pressures of false cases and judicial harassment. To honor his memory and raise awareness about this injustice, we invited the public to join us for a tribute.” The protesters demanded that Subhash’s wife, Nikita Singhania, be fired from her job at a tech company and alleged that had a woman died by suicide, her husband would have been immediately arrested.

Another volunteer, Narsingh, who was a close friend of Subhash, shared his personal struggles, stating he, too, had been embroiled in a legal battle with his wife since 2020, which had led to him being alienated from his son.

“Like Atul, I am also fighting a legal battle. I have seen my son only twice, and once at the police station. I am being asked for five crores to settle the false cases filed against me. We are always ignored, and the authorities side with the women. We are left alone in our struggle,” Narsingh said.

According to police, Subhash, who worked for a private firm in Bengaluru, left behind a 24-page purported death note detailing his emotional distress, marital issues, and harassment by his wife, her relatives, and a judge based in Uttar Pradesh.

The police have registered a case of abetment of suicide against Subhash’s wife Nikita Singhania, her mother Nisha, brother-in-law Anurag, and uncle Sushil. Investigations are ongoing.

Subhash’s death note, which was also shared with a WhatsApp group of an NGO he was associated with, outlined the marital discord he had been facing since his marriage in 2019, which had led to multiple legal cases. He and his wife had a son in 2020.