Rahul Gandhi calls family of doctor who died by suicide, assures support for SIT probe

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday spoke with the family of the 28-year-old woman doctor from Maharashtra’s Satara district who allegedly died by suicide last week, assuring them of his full support and promising to push for a Special Investigation Team (SIT) probe into the case.

During the call, made from the phone of Maharashtra Congress president Harshwardhan Sapkal during his visit to Kavadgaon village in Beed, Gandhi listened to the family’s concerns and pledged to help them seek justice. The victim’s relatives urged him to press the government to form an SIT, fearing crucial evidence could be lost as a week had passed since her death.

The young doctor was found hanging in a Phaltan hotel room on October 23. The postmortem confirmed death by asphyxia due to hanging. Police said that a note written on her palm named police sub-inspector Gopal Badane, accused of repeatedly raping her, and software engineer Prashant Bankar, accused of mentally harassing her. Both were arrested two days later, on October 25.

Investigators said there were no signs of forced entry into the hotel room, indicating that no one else was present at the time of her death. However, the family has raised serious allegations of tampering with her phone after her death, claiming it was unlocked using her fingerprint and that “vital data” was deleted.

Residents of Wadwani in Beed, the doctor’s native place, observed a bandh on Tuesday demanding an SIT investigation. The case has triggered public outrage across Maharashtra, with calls for a transparent and time-bound probe.