The Allahabad High Court has given bail to Nitin Nath Singh, a retired Indian Information Service (IIS) officer. He was accused of killing his wife, Renu Sinha, who was a lawyer at the Delhi High Court. Renu Sinha was found dead on September 10, 2023, in the bathroom of their house in Sector 30, Noida. Her brother, Ajay Kumar, who is a journalist, got worried when she didn’t answer calls for over a day. He went to her house with a friend and found it locked. 

They called the police, who broke open the door and found Renu Sinha’s body with many injuries. The post-mortem report said she died because she was strangled by hand. Her husband, Nitin Nath Singh, was thought to have left the house after the murder. But about 15 hours later, police found him hiding in a storeroom inside the same house. CCTV cameras and witness statements showed that he never actually left the house.

According to media reports, Singh had kept cigarettes and water in the storeroom and stayed hidden there even while police, sniffer dogs, and search teams were searching the house.The police said that Singh and his wife were fighting over property. They had signed a deal to sell their Noida house for ₹4.5 crore and got ₹55 lakh in advance. But later, Renu changed her mind, especially after she found out that Singh had already taken ₹3 crore. This argument over the property sale is believed to have turned violent and led to her murder.

Witnesses, including their house help and police officers, said that Singh and Renu did not have a good relationship. Renu had even filed a police complaint against Singh in 2016 for domestic violence. Police also said that Singh had two passports-one Indian and one British, and could run away easily, so he was seen as a flight risk.
On the other hand, Singh’s lawyers claimed that Renu’s brother Ajay Kumar made up a conspiracy because he wanted to get the property for himself. They said Singh was cooperating with the police and that his arrest was unfair.

Justice Siddharth, who gave the bail order, said that even though the charges against Singh are serious, he is a senior citizen, not a dangerous criminal, and he had already been in jail for over nine months. The judge also mentioned Article 21 of the Constitution (which talks about the right to life and personal liberty) and recent Supreme Court guidelines to reduce overcrowding in jails.

As part of the bail conditions, the court told Singh to give up both his passports and said he cannot leave India without permission. The court also warned him not to tamper with any evidence. Singh must attend all the trial hearings and cannot ask for delays when witnesses are present. If he breaks any of these rules, his bail can be cancelled.