Fadnavis directs SIT formation to probe Satara doctor death case

Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], October 31 (ANI): Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has directed the Director General of Police (DGP) to form a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the Phaltan doctor suicide case, sources confirmed on Friday.
According to sources, the SIT will be formed under the leadership of a woman IPS officer to investigate the alleged suicide of a doctor based in Satara's Phaltan.
This comes amid the mounting political pressure by the opposition parties demanding a high-level probe into the doctor's death case. The opposition had also earlier demanded that former Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Ranjeetsinh Naik Nimbalkar, son of former Shiv Sena MP from Satara, Hindurao Naik Nimbalkar, be arrested in connection with the case.
However, Fadnavis gave a clean chit to Nimbalkar on October 26 as he visited Satara and Solapur to inaugurate several projects. Reacting to this, Maharashtra Congress president Harshwardhan Sapkal criticised Fadnavis for giving a clean chit to the former BJP MP before the investigation.
Various medical associations have also demanded an independent probe into the alleged suicide of the 28-year-old doctor, who hailed from the Beed district of central Maharashtra.
The doctor, posted in Satara, was found dead in a hotel room. She had left a note written on her hand that named a police official and two others, officials said.
Suspended Police Sub-Inspector Gopal Badne, an accused in the Satara woman doctor suicide case, was produced before the Additional District and Sessions Court in Phaltan in Maharashtra on October 26 and remanded to police custody till October 30.
Satara Police arrested two persons, Police Sub-Inspector Gopal Badne and Prashant Bankar, in connection with the case. A case was registered against the accused duo under charges of rape and abetment to suicide. The Police Sub-Inspector Badne named in the note was suspended following this development.
A note on the hand of the doctor who passed away named the police official and two others for driving her to take the extreme step by subjecting her to physical and mental harassment.
The deceased's cousin alleged that the doctor had been facing political pressure related to her work. "There was a lot of police and political pressure on her to make wrong mortem reports. She tried to complain about it. My sister should get justice," the cousin told ANI.
Earlier, Fadnavis said that strict action will be taken against those who are guilty of the suicide of a woman doctor at the Sub-District Hospital in Satara. He also said that politicising "such a sensitive issue is very insensitive." (ANI)