Satara doctor suicide: Cop accused of raping her remanded to police custody till October 30

According to police, they found a suicide note written on the woman’s left palm which said she had been allegedly raped four times by Badane and was also mentally and sexually assaulted by one Prashant Bankar.

An FIR was lodged against Badane and Bankar at Phaltan city police station under BNS sections 108, 64 (2). She had been living on rent in a house owned by Bankar’s father in Phaltan.

Police had arrested Bankar, an engineer working with a Pune based company, on Saturday morning. The court remanded Bankar to police custody till October 28 on the same day.

Badane was arrested around 10.30 pm on Saturday. A police team produced him before a Phaltan court on Sunday evening.

The prosecution lawyer submitted before the court that the rape and sexual harassment offence was heinous and against the honour of a woman. Prosecution sought seven days police custody of the accused to recover his cell phone, his vehicle and investigate the spots where he had allegedly raped the deceased doctor.

The defence lawyer claimed that Badane was framed in this case and pointed at the dispute between the deceased doctor and police over providing medically “unfit” certificates to accused persons brought before her for their pre-arrest medical examination.

The deceased had filed a complaint on June 19, 2025, with the local sub-divisional police officer (SDPO) alleging that she had been pressured by cops to provide medically “fit” certificates to accused persons. She had named three police officers including sub inspector Badane in this complaint.

The defence lawyer said there were allegations that the victim doctor was being forced to provide medically “fit” certificates to the accused during their pre-arrest medical tests.

“When the victim doctor was on night duty, the police taking the accused to her for pre-arrest medical test was a part of their duty. There is nothing wrong with it. There was an inquiry against the doctor as police had complained that she was not performing her duty properly. Her statement was also recorded during this inquiry. She had also filed a complaint against the police (in June), in which she had named accused Badane. Since then, for the last few months, she never made any complaint of rape of sexual harassment against Badane. He is not involved in rape and abetment of her suicide. He was named (by the victim doctor) due to grudges over the previous complaints made against each other,” the defence lawyer said.

According to Tushar Doshi, Superintendent of Satara Police, inquiries were conducted into both the complaints. “Her complaint against the police and Phaltan Police complaint against her are about administrative work and nothing to do with her subsequent tragic suicide.”

“In her complaint she had said that police were pressuring her to give a fit certificate, whereas we had a complaint that she was unnecessarily giving unfit certificates. In both the cases, inquiry was conducted by the dean surgeon as well as us and it was decided to amicably resolve the issue… Her suicide is completely connected to her alleged sexual assault, rape, and mental torture by the PSI and the other private citizen. The earlier complaint belonged to an administrative domain and it was not about any major issue like changing of evidence, but about issuance of fit and unfit certificates to arrested persons,” Doshi said.

Meanwhile, Badane’s lawyer said that the deceased doctor had been residing at Bankar’s house, but it may have been difficult for her to stay there and so she went to a hotel room (where she died) around 1 am.

Police said they were probing phone calls and WhatsApp conversations between the deceased and the two accused persons.

Bankar’s family has claimed he was innocent. “He did not even stay at home much, he works in Pune. The doctor had ‘proposed’ to him earlier and he had rejected her. After that she used to keep calling him and mentally torture him. We have chats and call records to prove everything, we will show them to the police,” said his sister Swati Bankar.

Police said the accused Badane and the deceased doctor hail from Beed district. Speaking to media persons in Beed, Badane’s parents also claimed that he was not involved in the offence and the police should probe the handwriting of the deceased doctor’s suicide note.