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NEW DELHI: A police sub-inspector in Maharashtra’s Satara district has been suspended and arrested, along with one civilian, after a woman doctor died by suicide and accused them of rape and harassment. Satara District Police registered a case against PSI Gopal Badane and another man, Bankar, under charges of rape and abetment to suicide. “The accused PSI has been suspended from duty with immediate effect. Police have launched an investigation into the case,” Satara District SP Tushar Doshi told ANI. The cousin brother of the deceased doctor alleged that she had been under “a lot of police and political pressure” to falsify post-mortem reports. “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,” he told ANI. The woman, who worked at a government hospital in Phaltan tehsil and was a native of Beed district, was found hanging in a hotel room late on Thursday night. A suicide note, written on her palm, claimed she had been raped and mentally harassed by two police personnel over several months. According to the note, sub-inspector Gopal Badane raped her multiple times, while another officer, Prashant Bankar, subjected her to mental harassment.Following the incident, Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis spoke to the Satara Superintendent of Police and ordered the immediate suspension of the officers named in the suicide note. Fadnavis, who also holds the Home Department portfolio, directed strict action against all the accused.Meanwhile, Maharashtra Women’s Commission chief Rupali Chakankar said the panel had taken cognisance of the case. “We have taken cognisance of the matter and ordered Satara Police to take strict action against the accused. Teams have been deployed to hunt the accused. Those involved in this unfortunate incident will not be spared,” she said.
