Miss India Nafisa Joseph Death: Ex-Fiance Gautam Khanduja To Face Trial For Abetment To Suicide

The Bombay High Court has dismissed a revision application filed by businessman Gautam Khanduja seeking discharge from charges of abetting the 2004 suicide of his fiancée, model and former Miss India Universe winner Nafisa Joseph, holding that there are sufficient grounds for the trial to proceed against him.

A single-judge bench of Justice M.M. Sathaye rejected the plea filed under Section 397 read with Section 401 of the CrPC, which had challenged an August 24, 2005 order of the Additional Sessions Judge, Mumbai, refusing to discharge Khanduja under Section 306 of the IPC. "Suffice it to observe, that there are sufficient grounds to proceed against the Applicant and there are circumstances requiring the trial to proceed," the court held in its judgment dated September 10.

According to the case background, Khanduja and Joseph met in 2003 and got engaged on May 23, 2004, at Bangalore, with her parents' consent. Khanduja had told Joseph that he had divorced his first wife through a memorandum of understanding, but his mother informed Joseph that no divorce had actually taken place. When Joseph pressed him for the divorce papers, he did not produce them, leading to a dispute. On July 28, 2004, Joseph's mother travelled from Bangalore to Mumbai and met Khanduja at his Bandra residence, where, in the presence of both families, he refused to marry Joseph, calling her short-tempered.

The next morning, Joseph's mother again met Khanduja, who reiterated his refusal to marry. That evening, Joseph's friend Poonam Damania visited her at her Andheri flat and found her in a depressed state over the matter. Joseph refused to see a doctor unless Khanduja accompanied her, and despite being informed that she had not eaten for two days, he did not come. She subsequently locked herself in a room and died by hanging.

Following the registration of an FIR and completion of investigation, a chargesheet was filed and the matter was committed as Sessions Case No. 244 of 2005. Khanduja's discharge application before the Sessions Court was rejected, prompting him to move the High Court, which admitted the revision and stayed the trial in November 2005.

Senior advocate Ashok Mundargi, appearing for Khanduja, argued that the chargesheet did not disclose any instigation, threat, coercion, humiliation or intentional aid, and that mere refusal to marry, emotional distress or incompatibility could not amount to abetment, particularly given both parties' prior broken relationships. He relied on several precedents to argue that abetment under Section 306 requires mens rea and direct instigation.

Public Prosecutor Manisha R. Tidke countered that the marriage had been fixed for August 7, invitation cards distributed, and that Joseph died by suicide after being humiliated by the fear of disrepute following Khanduja's refusal to marry her.

Justice Sathaye, relying on Supreme Court rulings including Union of India v. Prafulla Kumar Samal and State of Tamil Nadu v. N. Suresh Rajan, reiterated that at the discharge stage, courts must presume the prosecution's material to be true and examine only whether a prima facie case exists, without conducting a "mini trial." Distinguishing the judgments cited by the defence, the court noted most concerned appeals after full trial, not discharge applications.

The court observed that the couple were aware of each other's pasts, including Joseph's two previous broken engagements, which may have made her "sensitive and vulnerable to one more such incident." Whether Khanduja's refusal to marry and failure to furnish divorce papers constituted the final trigger, the court said, "will have to be decided at the time of trial."

Dismissing the revision application, the court vacated the interim stay and directed the trial to proceed, though it granted a six-week continuation of the stay at Mundargi's request, rejecting his plea for a longer, eight-week extension. The two-decade-old case will now return to the trial court for the framing of charges and the recording of evidence, more than twenty years after Joseph's untimely death first made headlines.

Case Title: Mr. Gautam Khanduja v. State of Maharashtra and Anr.

Date of Judgment: September 10, 2026

Bench: Justice M.M. Sathaye