Chandni Singh, 26 year old ex staffer of Nagpur Today died a tragic death in the wee hours of 2nd December in Bangalore. The question of how she died haunts her family in Nagpur day and night.
They had married their elder daughter just this 12th March 2019.
Her friends called her Candy fondly. Was it because she was pretty, tall and shapely?? An eye candy in the real sense.
But this quality itself proved fatal for her.
Her husband of less than 9 months, a ‘ Man'(?) called Ritesh Ramshankar Singh renamed her ” Slut”.
He was overcome with doubts, insecurities and jealousy.
” How many boy friends have you had? You are the ‘ type’ men take to Goa” were some hurtful accusations he flung at her.
No one can imagine the thoughts that must have gone through her mind as she hurtled down 21 floors of her apartment in Bhartiya city in Bangalore city. ” Mummy, Chandni jumped!” the son in law told her mother close to midnight.
” Mummy , I don’t want to go back up ( to the apartment)! Let me come back to Nagpur. Or I can go to my friend’s house for the night. If I go back home something will happen to me.!”
But her mother told her firmly ” it’s late. Stop this drama on the road. Go home…go back upstairs. ”
Chandani went back. What happened thereafter is a mystery. Did she jump? Was she pushed? Remember she was alone surrounded by all her in laws family.
However she fell , a young life was snuffed out the night of 2nd December.
Who is to blame?
Society rules that decry a girl must marry her betrothed even if she has doubts?
Or after marriage if her worst fears come true and she is constantly mentally tortured she still must try and make the marriage work.
Or the girl herself who didn’t have the guts to walk out of an unhappy marriage? Who didn’t have confidence in her professional abilities and thought marriage was the be all and end all of a girl’s life?
Chandni had worked as a Trainee for Nagpur Today briefly..She was also trained in Digital marketing. She could have continued working and made her way up her career ladder.
But her extended family was keen to see her settled and married . Being a Geek she began looking for a life partner on portals like Jeevansathi.com. That is how she and Ritesh found each other. He was working for the US company Target that runs supermarkets. He was in a senior Executive position. He was based in Bangalore . It is alleged that question of dowry was raised and a settlement was reached. Further, the girl’s father was asked to arrange the marriage ceremonies in Bihar where the boy had his ancestral home. They complied. Don’t girl’s parents always??
They do the best they can so their daughter has a happy married life.
But in Chandni’s case it was not to be. One by one all of Ritesh’ family moved to Bangalore. The newly married girl had to cook for everybody but often had to go hungry herself. She wasn’t allowed to step out but her husband demanded that she bear 50% of the rent and household expenses.
Tired of the tyranny Chandani came back to Nagpur twice but was always coaxed to go back.
Till that fateful night of the “Fall”.
When her parents heard of it they rushed to Bangalore accompanied by 4 of their daughter’s friends. ( No family member came forward to support).
Catching the early morning flight they went straight to the police station of the area. Where they were made to wait almost the entire day without food or rest. They kept sitting at the station with their beloved daughter’s body lying in the morgue.
” The police officers kept talking with each other in the local Kannada lingo and laughing. It was as if they were jeering at us and our predicament. We were not shown an iota of sympathy or understanding. ”
Finally a report was filed at 3.30 but no arrests were made.
When Chandni’s sister and friends went to her house to collect her stuff everyone was sitting around like it was a normal evening.
Ritesh tried to describe the happening, but gave different versions. Interestingly he pointed to some scratches on his neck which were ” inflicted” on him when he was trying to ” save her “.
” She even grabbed my spectacles and broke them ” Ritesh allegedly told her sister.
All these circumstances lead to the question : did Chandni jump or was she overpowered and thrown down?
How did Candy die?
Why couldn’t she be saved??
Sunita Mudaliar
