After doctor’s suicide ‘over police and political pressure’, Fadnavis gives clean chit to former BJP MP who is under a cloud

The 29-year-old doctor allegedly died by suicide, with a note written on her palm saying she had been raped multiple times by a police sub-inspector and sexually harassed and assaulted by her landlord’s son. The police have arrested both the accused.

A five-page letter written by the doctor before her death also surfaced, in which she claimed to have been pressured by a former MP to alter the medical reports of an arrested person. Opposition leaders alleged the BJP leader being referred to was Nimbalkar. Her family had also alleged she was under “police and political pressure”.

“The police have arrested the accused in no time. Truth is coming out in the case. We will not sit quietly till we ensure that the family of the doctor gets justice,” Fadnavis said while speaking at an event in Phaltan.

Fadnavis said that, of late, some people had been making every attempt to play politics in all matters. “The name of Ranjitsinh is being linked with the case without any reason. But Maharashtra knows what Deva bhau is all about. If I had even the slightest suspicion, I would not have come to this event. I would have cancelled the event. In such cases, I never consider party, caste, individuals or politics,” he said.

Fadnavis went to the extent of telling the former MP that the party was behind him with full force. “Don’t worry, Ranjitsinh we will stand behind you with full force. The one who has slogged for the development of Phaltan consistently, my friend Ranjitsinh has organised this grand event,” Fadnavis said

“I will not compromise when the issue is related to my younger sister. At the same time, if people are playing politics with every such issue, we will not tolerate it. I will give them a befitting reply,” he said.

Before Fadnavis attended the event organised by Nimbalkar, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Ambadas Danve said, “The Chief Minister will today be sharing the dais with a person who had put pressure on the doctor to alter the medical report. The doctor had referred a patient for a 2D echo. The former MP’s two personal assistants then asked her to speak to him. The former MP told her that ‘you are not giving him a certificate of being medically fit because you are also from Beed like him and this is what the police have complained’. The woman doctor had given a written complaint to this effect.”

Speaking at the event, Nimbalkar said, “Some people are trying to throw mud at me, but they are already neck deep in mud. Let them throw mud at me, my heart is clean, nothing will deter me.”

Nimbalkar said that Fadnavis’s visit to Phaltan was significant. “Your coming to Phaltan will provide new direction to the people here. In the last 70 years, only Fadnavis has done a lot for the taluka.”

NCP leader Dhananjay Munde, who met the relatives of the doctor on Sunday in Beed, insisted that the doctor ended her life after she was pressured by the police and her seniors. “None of the family members of the deceased doctor are ready to accept that she had ended her life. Two days before death, she had told her brother to procure a caste certificate for doing post-graduation. Why would she then end her life? She has not ended her life, she has been murdered.”

Munde alleged that a contractor was beaten up badly in Phaltan recently. “He was beaten so badly that he required hospitalisation. At this time, personal assistants of a former MP put pressure on the doctor. They said the blood pressure of the contractor was normal and therefore he should not be admitted in the hospital… Now I am not going to allow the government to sit idle. I will fight to get justice for the deceased doctor,” he said.

Demanding that the Chief Minister should set up an SIT to probe the doctor’s death, Munde said, “In the SIT, there should be senior IPS officers. There should be no officers from Satara district.”

Speaking to The Indian Express on Sunday, Satara SP Tushar Doshi said the woman doctor had gone to a hotel, where she ended her life on her own. “She had gone to the hotel on her own. She had herself booked the room. We have checked the DVR. No one went to her room and no one is seen going out of her room. The CCTV also shows no one went to her room for a long time,” he said.

Doshi said, “She had gone to the hotel for the first time. She had checked in around 1.30 am. The hotel owner said in the morning, there was no call or movement from the room. Around 7.30 am, they then opened the room door with a master key. This is a definite case of suicide.”

The police said Prashant Bankar, the landlord’s son who was named in the doctor’s suicide note found on her palm, denied that he was in a relationship with her. “He has told the police that she was older to him by two or three years and he used to call her ‘madam’. But there are several chat exchanges and phone calls between the two,” the police said.
The police said the woman doctor had earlier worked as medical officer in Wai. “She wanted to work in Phaltan and therefore she started working here,” Doshi said.

“Police insisted that the arrested persons be given medically-fit certificates so that he remained in police custody. This is not something which should go against the police… One can understand, if the police were forcing the doctors to alter the medical report regarding the nature of injuries or other related things favouring someone. A Police Inspector had complained that when the accused were taken for a medical inspection to the doctor during the late evening hours, she had given them medically unfit certificates. This meant that the accused had to be admitted to the hospital and not sent to jail. She was against the accused being brought for medical inspection during the evening hours,” the police said.
Meanwhile, Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde said, “The trial in the case will take place in a fast-track court. The incident is unfortunate and condemnable. We will take strict action against those involved.”