Twist in Maharashtra doctor’s suicide case: Arrested Pune techie alleges she harassed him, insisted that he marry her

The accused software engineer from Pune, Prashant Bankar, who was arrested on Saturday in connection with the alleged suicide of a 28-year-old woman government doctor in Maharashtra’s Satara district, following the surrender of a co-accused, alleged that the doctor had harassed him by pressuring him to marry her and engage in a physical relationship, according to the police.

Bankar was one of the two men the doctor had mentioned in her suicide.

“We had called him and told him to surrender. His social media records and call details have been given to the police. My brother never called the doctor. Instead, it was the doctor who used to call him repeatedly and harass him,” Times Of India quoted the techie’s brother as saying.

Bankar’s sister stated, “Last month, my brother came to Phaltan to recover from dengue infection. The doctor treated him, and they exchanged numbers. Around 15 days ago, she proposed marriage to him. He turned down the proposal. During Diwali, she seemed tense, but we thought it was work-related. She was like family to us, and our mother treated her as her own daughter.”

“A large number of chats and call recordings between the accused and the deceased have been found in which she is speaking about stress, pressure, etc” a police officer mentioned, as per a TOI report.

The doctor was cremated at her native village in Wadwani tehsil, Beed, on Friday night. Her relatives are demanding the death penalty for the accused. A relative told a news channel that she had complained multiple times about harassment, but her grievances were ignored.

Another relative claimed that the victim was pressured to alter medical reports at the sub-district hospital where she worked. “Political people in Phaltan often asked her to change medical reports as she used to be regularly on autopsy duty. She had complained multiple times against the PSI (named in the note), but her complaints were not looked into,” the relative added, according to a PTI report.

‘No one will be spared’

“This is a very serious issue. A young doctor wrote her suicide note on her hand before committing suicide. It is very unfortunate, and the government, immediately taking action, has suspended the concerned police officials, and arrests are also being made. No one will be spared. Strict action will be taken… Politicising such a sensitive issue is very insensitive,” ANI quoted Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis as saying.

Meanwhile, “A court remanded the techie in four-day police custody till Oct 28,” Satara SP Tushar Doshi said.