Signed Android App crashes during startup

I have an application that works perfectly in debug mode, when i install from Studio. however after i sign the application it starts crashing with no understandable information. Below is the stacktrace for reference. Appreciate the help! Also the crash line is (line no. 5 here) is from an import of android package.

2020-05-27 16:31:37.389 933-1066/? E/system_server: Invalid ID 0x00000000.
2020-05-27 16:31:37.464 30343-30343/? E/test.abc: Unknown bits set in runtime_flags: 0x8000
2020-05-27 16:31:38.170 30401-30401/? E/ocessService0:: Not starting debugger since process cannot load the jdwp agent.
2020-05-27 16:31:39.279 30343-30343/test.x.y E/AndroidRuntime: FATAL EXCEPTION: main
    Process: test.x.y, PID: 30343
    java.lang.NullPointerException: throw with null exception
        at b.c.a.d.a.b$a.a(TestFragment.java:5)
        at androidx.lifecycle.LiveData.a(LiveData.java:6)
        at androidx.lifecycle.LiveData.b(LiveData.java:8)
        at androidx.lifecycle.LiveData.a(LiveData.java:25)
        at a.n.r.a(MutableLiveData.java:1)
        at a.n.y.a(Transformations.java:1)
        at a.n.p$a.a(MediatorLiveData.java:5)
        at androidx.lifecycle.LiveData.a(LiveData.java:6)
        at androidx.lifecycle.LiveData.b(LiveData.java:5)
        at androidx.lifecycle.LiveData$c.a(LiveData.java:10)
        at androidx.lifecycle.LiveData.a(LiveData.java:20)
        at a.n.p.b(MediatorLiveData.java:3)
        at androidx.lifecycle.LiveData$c.a(LiveData.java:6)
        at androidx.lifecycle.LiveData$LifecycleBoundObserver.a(LiveData.java:5)
        at a.n.m$a.a(LifecycleRegistry.java:3)
        at a.n.m.b(LifecycleRegistry.java:65)
        at a.n.m.a(LifecycleRegistry.java:7)
        at a.n.m.a(LifecycleRegistry.java:2)
        at a.l.d.r.a(FragmentManager.java:243)
        at a.l.d.r.l(FragmentManager.java:4)
        at a.l.d.a.c(BackStackRecord.java:29)
        at a.l.d.r.a(FragmentManager.java:531)
        at a.l.d.r.c(FragmentManager.java:36)
        at a.l.d.a.b(BackStackRecord.java:45)
        at a.l.d.y.a(FragmentStatePagerAdapter.java:20)
        at androidx.viewpager.widget.ViewPager.e(ViewPager.java:92)
        at androidx.viewpager.widget.ViewPager.f(ViewPager.java:1)
        at androidx.viewpager.widget.ViewPager.onMeasure(ViewPager.java:25)
        at android.view.View.measure(View.java:24545)
        at android.widget.RelativeLayout.measureChildHorizontal(RelativeLayout.java:735)
        at android.widget.RelativeLayout.onMeasure(RelativeLayout.java:481)
        at android.view.View.measure(View.java:24545)
        at android.view.ViewGroup.measureChildWithMargins(ViewGroup.java:6828)
        at android.widget.FrameLayout.onMeasure(FrameLayout.java:194)
        at androidx.appcompat.widget.ContentFrameLayout.onMeasure(ContentFrameLayout.java:21)
        at android.view.View.measure(View.java:24545)
        at android.view.ViewGroup.measureChildWithMargins(ViewGroup.java:6828)
        at androidx.appcompat.widget.ActionBarOverlayLayout.onMeasure(ActionBarOverlayLayout.java:29)
        at android.view.View.measure(View.java:24545)
        at android.view.ViewGroup.measureChildWithMargins(ViewGroup.java:6828)
        at android.widget.FrameLayout.onMeasure(FrameLayout.java:194)
        at android.view.View.measure(View.java:24545)
        at android.view.ViewGroup.measureChildWithMargins(ViewGroup.java:6828)
        at android.widget.LinearLayout.measureChildBeforeLayout(LinearLayout.java:1552)
        at android.widget.LinearLayout.measureVertical(LinearLayout.java:842)
        at android.widget.LinearLayout.onMeasure(LinearLayout.java:721)
        at android.view.View.measure(View.java:24545)
        at android.view.ViewGroup.measureChildWithMargins(ViewGroup.java:6828)
        at android.widget.FrameLayout.onMeasure(FrameLayout.java:194)
        at com.android.internal.policy.DecorView.onMeasure(DecorView.java:742)
        at android.view.View.measure(View.java:24545)
        at android.view.ViewRootImpl.performMeasure(ViewRootImpl.java:3006)
        at android.view.ViewRootImpl.measureHierarchy(ViewRootImpl.java:1833)
        at android.view.ViewRootImpl.performTraversals(ViewRootImpl.java:2122)
        at android.view.ViewRootImpl.doTraversal(ViewRootImpl.java:1721)
        at android.view.ViewRootImpl$TraversalRunnable.run(ViewRootImpl.java:7598)
        at android.view.Choreographer$CallbackRecord.run(Choreographer.java:966)
        at android.view.Choreographer.doCallbacks(Choreographer.java:790)
        at android.view.Choreographer.doFrame(Choreographer.java:725)
        at android.view.Choreographer$FrameDisplayEventReceiver.run(Choreographer.java:951)
        at android.os.Handler.handleCallback(Handler.java:883)
        at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:100)
        at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:214)
        at android.app.ActivityThread.main(ActivityThread.java:7356)
        at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Native Method)
        at com.android.internal.os.RuntimeInit$MethodAndArgsCaller.run(RuntimeInit.java:492)

And below is deobfuscated stacktrace, Looks like PageViewModel is getting messed somewhere.

java.lang.NullPointerException: throw with null exception
    at com.a.b.ui.main.PageViewModel$1.a(TestFragment.java:5)
    at androidx.lifecycle.LiveData.considerNotify(LiveData.java:6)
    at androidx.lifecycle.LiveData.onActive(LiveData.java:8)
                                   dispatchingValue
    at androidx.lifecycle.LiveData.setValue(LiveData.java:25)
    at androidx.lifecycle.MethodCallsLogger.a(MutableLiveData.java:1)
    at androidx.lifecycle.SavedStateViewModelFactory.create(Transformations.java:1)
    at a.n.o$a.a(MediatorLiveData.java:5)
    at androidx.lifecycle.LiveData.considerNotify(LiveData.java:6)
    at androidx.lifecycle.LiveData.onActive(LiveData.java:5)
                                   dispatchingValue
    at androidx.lifecycle.LiveData$ObserverWrapper.detachObserver(LiveData.java:10)
                                                   isAttachedTo
                                                   activeStateChanged
    at androidx.lifecycle.LiveData.observeForever(LiveData.java:20)
    at androidx.lifecycle.Lifecycling.b(MediatorLiveData.java:3)
    at androidx.lifecycle.LiveData$ObserverWrapper.detachObserver(LiveData.java:6)
                                                   isAttachedTo
                                                   activeStateChanged
    at androidx.lifecycle.LiveData$LifecycleBoundObserver.onStateChanged(LiveData.java:5)
    at a.n.l$a.a(LifecycleRegistry.java:3)
    at androidx.lifecycle.LifecycleOwner.b(LifecycleRegistry.java:65)
    at androidx.lifecycle.LifecycleOwner.getLifecycle(LifecycleRegistry.java:7)
    at androidx.lifecycle.LifecycleOwner.getLifecycle(LifecycleRegistry.java:2)