Rahul Gandhi speaks to family of doctor who died by suicide, promises justice

Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday spoke over the phone with family members of a woman doctor who allegedly died by suicide in Maharashtra's Satara district, assuring them of support in their fight for justice.

The doctor's family members, while demanding justice for her, asked Gandhi to put pressure on the government to set up a Special Investigation Team (SIT) for a probe into her death.

They said it has been a week since the doctor's death and feared that evidence would be wiped out.

Gandhi spoke to the woman's parents and siblings over the phone of Maharashtra Congress president Harshwardhan Sapkal when he visited them at Kavadgaon village in Beed district.

The Congress MP assured them that he would pressure the government to set up an SIT to probe the woman's death.

The 28-year-old doctor was found hanging in a hotel room in Phaltan town of Satara district on the night of October 23.

The postmortem mentioned the cause as asphyxia due to hanging, indicating the doctor had died by suicide. In a note written on her palm, she alleged police sub-inspector Gopal Badane raped her on multiple occasions, while Prashant Bankar, a software engineer, mentally harassed her, police have said.

Both of them were arrested on October 25.

According to police, there was no evidence of forced entry into the hotel room, ruling out the presence of anyone else during the incident.

The victim's relatives have demanded a SIT be constituted, alleging that crucial data was deleted from her mobile phone after her death.

Her uncle claimed that her phone was accessed using her fingerprint after she died, leading to the erasing of "vital information related to the incident."

Residents of Wadwani in Beed observed a bandh on Tuesday, demanding a probe by an SIT into the alleged suicide of the doctor who hailed from the region.