Ten years after television actor Pratyusha Banerjee died by suicide, the Bombay High Court has discharged her former boyfriend, actor-producer Rahul Raj Singh, from the case relating to abetment of suicide.
A single-judge bench of Justice Shivkumar Dige allowed Singh’s discharge application on Wednesday. Singh had approached the High Court after the Dindoshi sessions court rejected his plea in August 2023. The sessions court had earlier observed that Pratyusha appeared to have been under significant emotional, physical and financial distress.
Pratyusha Banerjee, who became widely known for her role as Anandi in the popular television serial Balika Vadhu, died at her Goregaon West apartment in Mumbai on April 1, 2016. Following her death, Rahul Singh was booked on allegations of abetting her suicide.
Singh was granted anticipatory bail by the Bombay High Court in July 2016. After a two-year investigation, Bangur Nagar police filed a chargesheet against him in April 2018. Singh subsequently sought to be discharged from the case.
In his latest plea, Singh denied the allegations and claimed that he and Pratyusha were planning to get married in December 2016. He argued that she was deeply disturbed because of what he described as interference from her parents in their relationship.
Singh also alleged that disagreements arose when he attempted to stop Pratyusha from giving money to her parents. He maintained that her difficulties were connected to family issues rather than his conduct.
Pratyusha’s mother, however, had made serious allegations against Singh. She had accused him of being possessive, physically assaulting Pratyusha and financially exploiting her. She also alleged that he prevented the actor from maintaining contact with her parents.
Singh’s lawyer, advocate Shreyansh Mithare, relied on the couple’s final telephone conversations recorded shortly before Pratyusha’s death. According to the lawyer, the conversations showed Singh attempting to comfort her and telling her that he loved her and would return home.
The defence also questioned the continuation of the case in the absence of a suicide note, arguing that there was insufficient material to justify sending Singh to trial.
The High Court’s decision comes a decade after Pratyusha’s death and brings a significant development in the long-running legal proceedings. The allegations made by both sides formed part of the case record, while the court’s discharge order determines Singh’s position in the criminal proceedings.
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