Maharashtra doctor suicide: Accused Prashant Banker, son of houseowner, arrested
One of the two accused named in the note by the Maharashtra doctor who died by suicide has been arrested.
Prashant Banker, the son of a landlord of the house where the doctor lived, was taken for a medical examination, according to the police.
The Satara police have registered a case against PSI Gopal Badane and Prashant Banker under charges of rape and abetment of suicide.
Badne is still absconding, and a search is underway to find him. He has also been suspended.
Investigators also said that the Prashant had connections to the PSI, who was accused of rape.
Banker will be produced before the court today.
The 28-year-old doctor who was working a the Phaltaan sub-district hospital as a medical officer was found dead in her hotel room on Thursday evening.
In a note written on the deceased's left palm, she wrote that Badne had raped her four times over the course of five months, and the landlord's son, Prashat Banker, had physically and mentally harassed her during the period. He had allegedly threatened her several times to vacate the rented room. She had allegedly called Banker and spoken to him over the phone before ending her life, according to police.
The doctor also left behind a four page suicide letter. In it she details how she was pressured to issue fake fitness certificates for accused in police cases not just by police officers but also in one case a member of the Parliament. The authencity of the letter and claims have not been verified.
According to the letter, the doctor had submitted a complaint to the hospital committee.
She claimed she was pressured to alter post-mortem and medical reports.
In one incident, police officers had allegedly forced her to declare a high blood pressure patient fit for custody and took the patient away without proper treatment.
She claimed that no action was taken despite her submitting a written complaint to the deputy superintendent of police.
Party leaders have demanded an independent inquiry and a Special Investigation Team (SIT) probe into the alleged suicide.
Satara Additional SP Vaishali Kaduskar said on Saturday that she was anguished over the incident and that the doctor could have been saved is action had been taken on time and if she had tolld someone what she was going through. "If action had been taken on the complaint of that woman doctor in time... or if she herself had told someone about the atrocities being committed against her... then perhaps her life could have been saved today. As a female police officer, I anguished and pained over this incident," she said while speaking to PTI.
India