New Delhi: Shock and disbelief shroud two colonies of Uttar Pradesh’s Jaunpur town that is divided by the Gomti River that flows through its middle. The Singhanias, who have houses in both localities, have made news the past week for the suicide of their son-in-law in Bengaluru and their neighbours can only scratch their heads in confusion.
“I heard about their daughter’s marriage, that it was a grand event but did not attend it. I got to know about their son-in-law’s suicide through news reports,” a neighbour living adjacent to Nikita Singhania’s ancestral house in Jaunpur told ThePrint.
Another neighbour, who said she has known the Singhania family for 40-odd years and who interacted with her mother Nisha at the local nutrition and fitness facilities, said: “While the family always lived an absolutely private life, not mingling much with neighbours, I used to meet Nisha Singhania almost every day and we used to discuss our family affairs. She asked about my daughter who has been married for four years now and she never even hinted at her daughter’s marital dispute.”
“No one could even imagine that their smiling and glowing faces hid such a dispute. All of us in the neighborhood are in a state of disbelief,” added the woman, requesting privacy because of her long relationship with the Singhanias.
“It’s one thing to know about the marital dispute, but the allegations that their son-in-law has levelled against the family, which we know as rich and of very high stature, are shocking to say the least. For the Singhanias, everything looked measured and not out of plan,” she told ThePrint.
Nikita’s husband Atul Subhash, 34, died by suicide last week, leaving behind a 24-page note in which he gave details of his personal and legal battle with his estranged wife. He alleged, among other things, that his in-laws had filed false cases against him, attempted to extort money from him in the name of maintenance, and subjected him to mental torture.
Based on a complaint from Atul’s brother, the Bengaluru City Police booked Nikita, Nisha, Nikita’s brother Anurag and Nikita’s uncle Sushil Singhania. Barring Sushil, the remaining three were arrested Saturday from Gurugram and Prayagraj. All of them were sent to 14-day judicial custody by a court Sunday.
‘Half of Jaunpur’s garment shops owned by Singhanias’
Nikita’s father, the late Manoj Singhania, belonged to the affluent Marwari community and was the youngest of three brothers, the elder ones being Sushil and Vinod.
Neighbours in the two colonies of Jaunpur reckon that the Singhanias had roots in West Bengal’s Kolkata and owned a big wholesale garment business in Jaunpur.
“Pick the biggest garment shops in Jaunpur town and nearly half of them will be owned by the Singhanias,” their neighbour Lucky Chaurasia, also a retail garment businessman, told ThePrint.
The neighbours also said that the family, while visibly prosperous, had limited interaction with neighbours and no one could gauge they were locked in a bitter dispute with Atul that would end them up in jail.
“There was no personal interaction except for greetings with neighbours like we have in small towns such as Jaunpur. We had seen the girl with her son but we neither got any hint about the bitter dispute nor did the family members ever talk about any such issue,” a third neighbour from near their ancestral house told ThePrint.
Nikita’s immediate family, that includes her mother and brother, moved from their ancestral home to a new house in another Jaunpur locality around Diwali this year, said neighbours.
The new building had notices pasted on the walls, asking them to appear before the investigating officer.
Videos of Nikita’s mother and brother leaving their new Jaunpur home had emerged on social media, and ThePrint found the house locked Friday. A day later, Nikita was arrested from Haryana’s Gurugram, where she was staying while working for a multinational company.
Neighbours in the new locality recalled having seen Nikita and briefly interacting with her and her son, but no one knew of her marital disputes.
“They had bought this house some six months ago and constructed the upper floors of the building after that. They permanently shifted here only around Diwali when I had seen Nikita with her son. I got to know about the case through a news channel and the reports were later confirmed by the crowd of mediapersons outside their residence,” their neighbour Shalini Keshawarani, 40, told ThePrint Saturday.
A first for Nikita
Nikita and Atul’s marriage had taken place in April 2019 at a swanky hotel in Varanasi, some 50 km away from Jaunpur.
Several family members from both sides were in attendance, but the neighbours said they just heard stories of the wedding. Most were not invited and a few who were could not make it to the event.
Manoj died in 2019, mere months after Nikita’s marriage. Her uncle Sushil was named by Atul in his suicide note and in the FIR registered by the Bengaluru Police on complaint from his family.
Refusing to comment on allegations against his father, Sushil’s son told ThePrint that his father was like a father to both Nikita and Anurag—especially after Manoj’s death.
In his statement to the police, that is part of the chargesheet in the case, a copy of which ThePrint has seen, Sushil has claimed to have witnessed Atul’s parents demanding dowry of Rs 10 lakh from Manoj Singhania.
Speaking about the life and education of Nikita, Sushil’s son said that she was the first woman from the family to have stepped out for higher education and employment.
A student of St John’s Public School and Tilak Dhari PG College in her hometown, Nikita moved out of Jaunpur to pursue higher studies and earned an MBA degree from Jaipuria Institute of Management, he said.
“It’s unfortunate what happened. We knew about the marital dispute and my father was a father figure to Nikita and her brother. I don’t want to entertain further questions on the issue,” Sushil’s son said at his shop in Jaunpur main market.
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)
Yeah. You never know what’s happening in people’s personal lives. We are lonely living in cities where the places are crowded yet no one knows anyone else. What is new? It doesn’t discredit Atul Subhash’s sacrifice. It doesn’t discredit masculinism. It only enhances the masculinist struggle against capitalism and a culture of female-centered matriarchy.