Raped 4 times by ‘relative’: Shocking details in Maharashtra doctor suicide case

A 29-year-old doctor working at a government hospital in Maharashtra’s Satara district died by suicide after allegedly being raped by a sub-inspector and suffering mental and physical harassment at the hands of another man, her landlord’s son, for the past four to five months.

The doctor’s body was recovered from a hotel room where she was found hanging on Thursday night, October 23.

When she was found dead, a note on her palm written in Marathi, alleged that she was raped four times by a sub-inspector of Phaltan City police station, identified as Gopal Badane. An officer who is probing the case also revealed that the victim and the sub-inspector, who has now been suspended, were relatives and hailed from Beed.

The note also alleged that she suffered continued mental and physical harassment at the hands of a man named Prashant Bankar.

The victim worked as a medical officer on a contractual basis at a government hospital in Satara’s Phaltan area. Both the accused have been booked, and the body of the victim has been sent for post-mortem examination.

Satara superintendent of police Tushar Doshi said that an FIR has been registered based on the complaint of the doctor’s family against both the accused on charges of rape and abetment to suicide.

Search operation is on to nab the absconding accused, said police.

Victim was pressured to make fake medical reports
According to a cousin of the doctor, she had refused to make “medically fit” certificates of certain people who had been arrested, because of which she was facing pressure from police and political figures. He also alleged she was pressured to make ‘wrong’ post-mortem reports. “They were also pressuring my sister to prepare fit/unfit reports of the patients without bringing patients to the hospital,” he alleged.

According to him, she also filed a complaint against three cops earlier this year, in June-July, in which she named three cops, including the cop who allegedly raped her.

Denying these allegations, a Satara police official said that she did complain about something around that time, but it was “related to a different thing”.

A senior police official told that before allegedly dying by suicide, the doctor had contacted one of the accused, Bankar, and both of them had exchanged text messages. Bankar is the son of the doctor’s landlord.

Political storm
The case has turned into a political storm as the opposition Congress in the state attacked the ruling Mahayuti government and accused it of “failing” to protect women.

“The Fadnavis-led government has failed to protect women,” said Congress spokesperson Sachin Sawant.

Spokesperson of Uddhav Thackeray’s Shiv Sena, Sushma Andhare, demanded that a separate special investigating team (SIT) should be formed to probe the case.

However, Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis directed the police to take strict action against the accused.