Five people, including representatives of Edelweiss Group and subsidiary firm ECL Finance, were charged by Raigad police in Maharashtra on Friday for allegedly aiding in the death of art director Nitin Desai. According to a police officer, a First Information Report (FIR) was made at the Khalapur police station based on a complaint made by Desai’s wife, Neha Desai, under the Indian Penal Code sections 306 (abetment of suicide) and 34 (common purpose). In the lawsuit, it was claimed that her husband had endured ongoing psychological abuse because of the debts his business had taken, which contributed to his decision to kill himself.
Desai, who was well-known for his work on well-liked Bollywood movies like “Lagaan” and “Jodha Akbar,” allegedly hung himself on Wednesday at his studio in Karjat, Raigad district.
His firm was in arrears on a loan repayment to creditors of Rs 252 crore, and the Mumbai bench of the National firm Law Tribunal had already begun bankruptcy proceedings against it.
Desai’s business, ND’s Art World Pvt Ltd, took two loans totaling Rs 185 crore from ECL Finance in 2016 and 2018, and repayment issues began in January 2020. The lender was ECL lending, a non-banking lending division of the Edelweiss Group.
The National Award-winning art director’s last rites were performed in front of family members and coworkers on Friday at his Karjat studio.
The 57-year-old was discovered dead on the grounds of his studio on Wednesday morning in Karjat, Raigad district.
