Nearly after a decade of being named as an accused in the suicide case of popular TV actress Pratyusha Banerjee, the Bombay High Court recently discharged her boyfriend and event planner Rahul Raj Singh, observing that there was no material on record to show that the Balika Vadhu fame actress took the extreme step due to the alleged harassment by him.

Single-judge Justice Shivkumar Dige in his September 30 order, which was uploaded on Thursday (October 8) noted the allegation of Banerjee's parents that while living in a live-in relationship, Singh harassed their daughter and after being fed up with the continuous harassment, their daughter committed suicide by hanging herself in her rented flat in Goregaon (West) on April 1, 2016.

However, the judge said that the Banerjee family failed to bring anything on record to show the alleged harassment meted out to their daughter by Singh.

"Though, it is alleged that the applicant had been harassing the deceased but no evidence is produced on record in that regard. It is significant to note that there was last call between the applicant and the deceased before the deceased committed suicide. During the said call, the applicant was imploring the deceased not to take any extreme steps till his arrival but the deceased was not in the state to listen. She was continuously staying that she was fed up with her life. After the incident, the applicant along with others immediately reached the incident spot and took the deceased to the hospital to save her life. It appears from the record that after the said incident, due to trauma, the applicant was also admitted in the hospital," the judge said.

The judge further pointed out that even during her lifetime, while she was living with Singh in a live-in relationship for nearly a year, she did not lodge any complaint against him alleging harassment.

"From the evidence on record, there is nothing to show that the applicant abetted or instigated the deceased to commit suicide. There is no case at all against the applicant," Justice Dige said, while discharging Singh.

Singh, who was booked for abetting her suicide was granted anticipatory bail by the Bombay High Court in July, 2016. In April 2018, the Bangur Nagar police filed a chargesheet in the case, prompting Singh to file a plea seeking discharge in the matter.

Singh claimed Banerjee was under the influence of alcohol when she took the drastic step and was depressed because of lack of work. He cited the case of Mariano Anto Bruno Vs Inspector of Police to say that there was no direct or indirect incitement through him to Banerjee and therefore ingredients were not met.

However, the sessions court while refusing to discharge him by an order passed on August 14, 2023, noted the 'overwhelming' evidence in the nature of the statements of Banerjee's friends and family, all of whom spoke about the 'violent and abusive' relationship between the two.

Singh had challenged this order of the sessions court before Justice Dige, who quashed the same and discharged him from the case.

Appearance:

Senior Advocate Aabad Ponda along with Advocates Shreyansh Mithare, Pooja Sharma, Avinash Kori and Shobhit Desai appeared for Singh.

Additional Public Prosecutor SR Agarkar represented the State.

Advocates Tejas Mane and Abhijeet Khade represented the Banerjee Family.