Upcoming Marathi film producer Atul Tapkir committed suicide in his room at a leading hotel in Pune in the early hours of Sunday, after posting a suicide note on his Facebook page.
In FB post, Tapikar said that he was ending his life by consuming poison. He attributed his suicide to the financial losses suffered in the making of his critically acclaimed Marathi film Dhole Taashe Pathak and the mental harassment he was allegedly facing at the hands of his wife Priyanka.
Taikar was staying in Hotel President off Karve Road in Pune. As he did not open the hotel room on Sunday morning, the hotel management called the police who broke open the room. He was found lying dead.
The body of Tapikar, who is suspected to have consumed poison, was sent to the State-run Sassoon General Hospital for post-mortem.
The Deccan Gymkhana police station have registered a case and are investigating the case.
Tapikar is survived by his wife, son Vishwajit, daughter Sakshi, father Bajirao Tapikar and sisters Ujwala and Nirmala.
In his suicide note, Tapikar allleged “Since my film went into losses, I was debt trapped. As a consequence, my wife started harassing me.... I was driven out of my own home by my wife and she also distanced me from my children. She also started defaming me among my neighbours and friends. To that extent, my friends stopped interacting with me.... Because of the harassment, I began consuming liquor.”
Tapkir also alleged that while father and sisters were supporting him, his wife was harassing him to no end and that she had also complained to the police demanding his arrest.
Dhole Taashe Pathak, which is the first Marathi political drama that revolve around the culture related to people who play drums and instruments in cultural processions in Maharashtra was released in July 2015. Though well-made, the film – directed by Ankur Kakatkar and starring Abhijeet Khandkekar, Hrishitaa Bhatt and Jitendra Joshi starring—bombed at the box office.