Art director Nitin Desai’s death: FIR against 5 of ECL Finance on charges of abetment to suicide

Desai was found hanging in his ND studio at Karjat in Raigad district Wednesday morning.

In the first information report (FIR), Neha alleged that the officers of the company are responsible for causing severe mental stress to her husband. She alleged that the employees of the creditor firm harassed her husband over loans, which led to his death by suicide. Desai had been facing mental harassment in connection with the loans his company had taken, and he died by suicide because of it, the FIR added.

Police recovered audio clips from Desai’s studio where he was found dead, in which he is purportedly heard requesting the government to ensure that his studio is not seized and rather used for promoting art. The audio clips also had mention of names of some people had driven him to commit suicide, police said. After Desai was found dead, police had said it was a suspected case of suicide due to the Rs 252-crore debt he was facing. An officer said that they have sent the audio notes to the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) to confirm its authenticity.

On July 25, the Mumbai bench of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) ordered “initiation of Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process (CIRP)” against Nitin Desai’s company — ND’s Art World Private Limited — in view of an outstanding debt of Rs 252.48 crore. The bench also appointed Jitender Kothari as the interim resolution professional to carry out the steps mentioned under the Insolvency & Bankruptcy Code, 2016.

Desai, who hailed from Dapoli, worked as an art director and production designer for several Marathi and Hindi films including Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam (1999), Lagaan (2001), Devdas (2002), Jodhaa Akbar (2008) and Prem Ratan Dhan Payo (2015).

Desai won the national award for art direction four times and Filmfare award three times. In 2005, he opened his ND Studios spread over nearly 50 acres at Karjat, Navi Mumbai, which has hosted movies such as Jodhaa Akbar and Colors TV’s reality show Big Boss.