Air India pilot found dead in Mumbai; boyfriend arrested

Tuli was found dead at her rented accommodation behind Marol Police Camp in Andheri (East) early on Monday. Initial inquiries indicate that she was mentally disturbed due to Pandit’s harassment, the police said. Pandit had been preparing for a pilot’s exam but failed to qualify they added.

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

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

Jitendra Sonawane, Senior Inspector of Powai police station, said they arrested Pandit under section 108 (abetment to suicide) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita on a complaint from Tuli’s family. “He was produced in court on Tuesday and remanded to four days’ police custody,” the inspector 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,” Sonawane added.

Tuli met Pandit in Delhi 2 years ago

According to the first information report (FIR), the two met in Delhi around two years ago while training for Commercial Pilot’s License (CPL). Tuli lived in Delhi’s Dwarka during the training period. After the training, she got a job with Air India and moved to Mumbai in June 2023.

The woman’s uncle Vivekkumar Tuli, who runs a gas agency in Gorakhpur, spoke to her friends and colleagues who told him that Pandit would often misbehave with her and try to control her, the FIR revealed. After Tuli missed the engagement function of Pandit’s sister due to work, he refused to speak to her for nearly 10 days, they said. His behaviour often left her mentally disturbed, the FIR added.

“He used to yell at her publicly. Once at a party, he shouted at her for eating non-vegetarian food and stopped her from doing so again. He used to damage her car and leave her in the middle of the road. He used to harass her a lot, but Tuli loved him a lot,” Vivekkumar said in his statement to the police.

CCTV footage from Tuli’s society shows that she reached home after work on Sunday. She also spoke to her mother over the phone, showing no sign of worry, which indicates that she died after arguing with Pandit, Vivekkumar alleged in the FIR.

‘Pandit withdrew money from her account’

Speaking to The Indian Express, Vivekkumar said that though the post-mortem report points to suicide, the family strongly suspects that Pandit gave her some kind of sedative and killed her. “He used to withdraw money from her bank account, and we suspect he was blackmailing her. We have found some transactions. We would soon share these details with the police,” he stated.

“Tuli was the first woman pilot from Gorakhpur and she was honoured by the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister. At her cremation in Gorakhpur, hundreds gathered to pay tribute,” Vivekkumar said, adding that the incident has left the entire family in deep shock. Tuli’s last rites were performed on Wednesday morning.

Srishti Tuli hailed from an Army family. Her grandfather Narendrakumar Tuli died in the 1971 India-Pakistan war, and her uncle too briefly worked in the Indian Army.