NEW DELHI: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday spoke to the family of the 28-year-old woman doctor who was found dead in a hotel room in Satara district on October 23 and pledged his party’s support to their demand for the constitution of a special investigation team (SIT) to probe her death.
“We will exert pressure on the government to form a special investigation team (SIT) for investigation of this case,” Gandhi told the family during the phone conversation on Wednesday. Maharashtra Congress president Harshwadhan Sapkal had called on the family in Beed district’s Kavdagav to meet the family of the woman doctor and handed his phone to the family with Rahul Gandhi on the line.
An autopsy report has indicated “asphyxia due to hanging” as the cause of death and underlined that there were no injury marks on the doctor’s body.
The doctor was found dead in room no 114 in Madhudeep Hotel in Phaltan on October 23. On the palm of her hand was a suicide note that mentioned two names – Prashant Bankar and police sub-inspector Gopal Badane. While Bankar, with whom the doctor was romantically involved, has been accused of mental and physical harassment, Badane has been accused of rape and sexual assault.
Both of them have been arrested.
The victim’s family has claimed that someone used her fingerprint to unlock her phone after her death “to erase crucial data”.
“This is not suicide, it is murder,” the father of the deceased doctor told reporters, blaming the two accused of harassing and torturing his daughter. He demanded the death penalty for all those responsible for her death.
In his conversation with Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday, the family told the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha that they were fighting for justice for the doctor.
To a question from Gandhi, the family said there was a group of people behind the death of their daughter and names of people were there in a letter written by her. The family also stressed that unless a SIT investigated the case, there would be no justice in the matter.
Later Sapkal demanded that a SIT be constituted under the supervision of a high court judge. He also demanded immediate arrest of former BJP MP Ranjitsinh Naik Nimbalkar and stepped up the party’s attacks.
“Woman doctor was subjected to pressure to do wrongful acts and was harassed. Several incidents exposing former MP Naik-Nimbalkar’s hooliganism have already come to light. Before any investigation began, chief minister Devendra Fadnavis publicly gave a clean chit to Ranjitsinh Naik-Nimbalkar. This is outrageous. The probe should be conducted outside Phaltan, under the supervision of a senior woman officer. The Congress Party will not remain silent Mahila Congress will soon launch statewide protests.” said Sapkal.