Doctor Who Died By Suicide Faced Police Complaint Over "Troublesome" Behaviour

The woman doctor who died by suicide after accusing a police officer of raping her multiple times in Maharashtra's Satara had faced allegations of hindering investigations in the past, NDTV has found. The police had forwarded a complaint against her to the district surgeon last month, detailing her "troublesome" and "uncooperative" behaviour.

The 26-year-old doctor worked as a medical officer at the Phaltan sub-district hospital in Satara. She died by suicide on Thursday night, accusing sub-inspector Gopal Badne of mentally and physically abusing her in a note written on her left palm. Badne, who has been suspended, is currently on the run.

Separately, she left a four-page note alleging that Badne and other cops pressured her to issue fake fitness certificates for the accused, and she was harassed when she refused.

The police complaint to the district surgeon, dated September 22, alleged that the doctor hindered the medical check-up of the accused in serious crimes and apprehended that suspects could escape the law due to her behaviour. Police Inspector Sunil Mahadik of the Phaltan Rural Police Station stated in his letter that she didn't cooperate with them and frequently argued with the officers.

Citing one such instance from May 30 this year, the complaint stated that the doctor had refused to conduct the pre-arrest medical check-up of two accused who were taken to the hospital late at night. She had then accused the cops of deliberately harassing her by delaying the check-ups till night, even after being explained that the accused could not be arrested without a check-up, it added.

The police further alleged that she used to declare some accused unfit and get them hospitalised, thus preventing their arrest and forcing the police to deploy guards. During the May 30 incident, too, she had declared the accused as unfit, but they were found to be fit the next day, they claimed.

In another incident, they alleged, she told the cops that she wanted to cause trouble for them.

On June 19, the doctor had raised a similar allegation against the police. In a letter to the Deputy Superintendent of Police of the Sub-Divisional Office, she had accused two officers of harassment and sought legal action against them.

She had also allegedly tried to exert pressure on a police inspector after she was named in the complaint. "I am now putting my life at risk," she had apparently told him, besides raising caste and gender-related allegations, the complaint stated.

In their complaint to the district surgeon, the police demanded that immediate action be taken against her and that she should not be appointed to conduct a medical check-up of any accused. The district surgeon's office had also ordered concerned officials to investigate the allegations and submit a report.

The doctor ended her life at the district hospital on Thursday. In the note that she left on her palm, she blamed Badne for abetting her suicide. "He subjected me to rape, mental and physical abuse for more than five months," it said.

She also accused Prashant Bankar, the son of her landlady, of mental harassment. Bankar has been arrested.

NDTV had earlier reported on the allegations made by the doctor in her four-page suicide note. In one such instance, she alleged the cops made her speak to an MP over the phone and was threatened indirectly for refusing to issue a "fake" fitness certificate.

Her cousin, too, has made similar allegations. "In her letter, she asked that if anything happened to her, who would be responsible for it? She also flagged the lack of security at the premises, but nothing happened," he said.