In a shocking new twist to the alleged suicide case of a woman doctor in Maharashtra, a woman from Satara has claimed that the doctor, who died by suicide, had signed a fake postmortem report under pressure.
The allegations have deepened the mystery surrounding the doctor’s death and have added a new layer of complexity to the ongoing investigation.
The woman, Bhagyashree Maruti Pachangne, from a village in Satara, alleged that the postmortem report of her daughter, Deepali Maruti, was fabricated. She claimed that her daughter’s death was suspicious and that the doctor who prepared the report had been coerced into falsifying details.
According to Pachangne, her daughter was married to Ajinkya Hanmant Nimbalkar, an Indian Army officer. She alleged that Deepali had endured continuous physical and mental abuse from her husband and in-laws. On 19 August, Deepali reportedly died by suicide, but her mother strongly believes that her daughter was murdered.
“When we reached the hospital, they told us Deepali had taken her life. But she was six months pregnant and had a one-and-a-half-year-old daughter, she would never leave them behind. I believe she was killed,” Pachangne said.
She also alleged that the family did not receive the postmortem report until a month after her daughter’s death and that the report “did not match the circumstances of her death.” She accused her son-in-law of using his “political and police connections” to cover up the truth.
Doctor’s suicide
The doctor, who was posted at Phaltan Sub-District Hospital in Satara, was found dead in a hotel room last week. Her death has sparked outrage after multiple suicide notes surfaced. In one chilling note written on her palm, she accused Police Sub-Inspector Gopal Badane of sexual assault and software engineer Prashant Bankar of mental harassment.
She also named a former Member of Parliament (MP) and alleged that his personal assistants had pressured her to declare an accused person medically fit. A four-page suicide letter reportedly detailed months of political and police pressure to falsify medical records.
A relative of the deceased doctor said that political figures in Phaltan often asked her to alter autopsy findings. “She was regularly on autopsy duty and had complained several times against the PSI, but her complaints were ignored,” the relative said.
Ongoing investigation
Following the suicide, the police arrested Prashant Bankar, the son of her landlord, on charges of mental harassment. Sub-Inspector Gopal Badane, named in her suicide note, later surrendered and was subsequently suspended from service. Both men face charges of rape and abetment to suicide.
Meanwhile, the doctor’s cousin has made further allegations, claiming that she had been under political and police pressure for more than a year to forge fitness certificates and falsify postmortem reports. The cousin alleged that the doctor’s body was taken to the hospital without the family’s presence and that no official was available to perform her postmortem until early the next morning.
The case has triggered a major political uproar in Maharashtra, with the opposition accusing the government of shielding influential figures. Bhagyashree Pachangne has demanded a high-level investigation into both her daughter’s death and the circumstances that drove the doctor to suicide.
