Bengaluru techie Atul Subhash's son to stay with mother Nikita, Supreme Court orders

Justice BV Nagarathna and Justice SC Sharma delivered the verdict in response to a plea by Anju Devi, Subhash's mother, who sought the boy's custody.

As the hearing started, the petitioner sought a week to file a more detailed affidavit.

Dismissing the request, the bench said, "This is a habeas corpus (petition)... we want to see the child. Produce the child. The court will take up the matter after some time..."

After a 45-minute break, the boy appeared on a video link, during which time the court went offline to protect his identity.

Earlier this month, Nikita had informed the court that the boy was a student of a boarding school in Haryana's Faridabad and that he would be withdrawn to accompany his mother to Bengaluru.

Nikita and her family members- her mother, Nisha; and brother, Anurag - face charges of abetting the suicide of Atul Subhash, 34. They were arrested and later granted bail.

After Singhania's arrest, Anju Devi approached the Supreme Court seeking the custody of her grandson. Subhash's father, Pawan Kumar, also publicly demanded custody of the young boy.

The petition claimed that neither Nikita nor her family members had disclosed the child's whereabouts. Nikita had said that the boy was with her uncle, Sushil Singhania, then.

However, he later denied having any knowledge of the child's location. The court then directed the governments of three states - Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, and Haryana - to provide clarity on the situation.

The court then also noted the boy had spent barely any time with his grandmother.

"Sorry to say the child is a stranger to the petitioner," Justice Nagarathna remarked, but also acknowledged the issue of custody would first have to be heard by an appropriate lower court.

Atul Subhash and Nikita Singhania got married in 2019 and their son was born in 2020. In 2021, Nikita left the couple's Bengaluru home after an altercation. In 2022, she filed a case against Atul and his family members.

After two years of bitter squabbles, Atul died by suicide at his Bengaluru flat on December 9.

He had accused his estranged wife and her family members of harassment and extortion in an 81-minute video and a 24-page suicide note.

He alleged that he and his family were slapped with charges of murder, dowry harassment, and unnatural sex.

Atul had refuted the dowry charges by Nikita and also claimed there was no link between the dowry demand and the death of Nikita's father.

In the 24-page suicide note, Atul alleged his wife was getting Rs. 40,000 (USD  471) per month for maintenance despite having a job at Accenture and even asked for Rs. 2-4 lakh (USD  2,358-  4,716) more.