Satara Doctor Who Died By Suicide Had Faced Police Complaints Over ‘Troublesome’ Conduct: Report

Police in September had forwarded a complaint against the woman doctor who died by suicide after accusing a police officer of raping her multiple times in Maharashtra’s Satara, calling her out for her alleged ‘troublesome’ and ‘uncooperative’ behaviour.

She also has faced allegations of hindering investigations in the past.

On September 22, the district surgeon received a complaint from the police that alleged that the deceased doctor hindered the medical check-up of the accused in serious crimes. According to the letter, whose existence was first reported by broadcaster NDTV, police officer Sunil Mahadik of the Phaltan Rural Police Station wrote in his letter that police feared that suspects could escape the law due to her behaviour.

Mahadik also

pointed out that she didn’t cooperate with them and frequently argued with the officers.

The letter also highlighted that earlier in May, the doctor refused to conduct the pre-arrest medical check-up of two accused who were taken to the hospital late at night. She also accused the policemen of harassing her by delaying the check-ups until late night despite being told that accused cannot be arrested without a checkup.

The letter highlighted that she declared some accused unfit and get them hospitalised and prevented their arrest, which forced the police to deploy guards. On May 30, she declared the accused as unfit, only to be found fit the next.

In another instance, the complainants alleged that she told the police she wanted to create trouble for them.

Earlier, on June 19, the doctor had made a similar allegation against the police in a letter to the Deputy Superintendent of Police, accusing two officers of harassment and seeking legal action against them.

She had also allegedly tried to pressure a police inspector after being named in the complaint. “I am now putting my life at risk,” she reportedly told him, while also making caste and gender-related allegations, according to the complaint.

In their letter to the district surgeon, the police sought immediate action against her and requested that she not be assigned to conduct medical examinations of any accused. The district surgeon’s office subsequently directed officials to investigate the claims and submit a report.

The 28-year-old doctor, who hailed from Beed district and worked at the hospital in Phaltan tehsil, was found hanging in a hotel room at Phaltan late on Thursday night, an official said.

In the suicide note written on her palm, the doctor alleged she had been raped and mentally harassed by the police sub-inspector and another person over the last five months.

She wrote that sub-inspector Gopal Badane raped and sexually harassed her on multiple occasions, while another man Prashant Bankar, a software engineer, mentally harassed her. Both have been booked under charges of rape and abetment of suicide, police said.

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