Dr Payal Tadv was found hanging in her hostel room on the medical college’s premises. (File)The three accused doctors arrested for the alleged abetment to the suicide of Dr Payal Tadvi had prima facie tried to destroy the evidence against them soon after the 26-year-old medical student committed suicide last month, the special court observed while rejecting their bail plea on Monday.
Hema Ahuja, Bhakti Mehare and Ankita Khandelwal, postgraduate students of gynaecology course at TN Topiwala National Medical College, have been in custody since they were arrested last month on charges of ragging and caste-based harassment which purportedly led Tadvi to commit suicide on May 22. She was found hanging in her hostel room on the medical college’s premises.
“It is claimed that CCTV footage are available and they show that after moving the body of the victim (Payal Tadvi) to trauma room, the applicants (the three doctors) went to the room of the victim. They have not explained what was their business in that room. Therefore, it cannot be denied that they tried to search for evidence, and if yes, what happened with that evidence?” the court said.
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According to the submissions made by special public prosecutor Raja Thakare, CCTV footage shows that the three accused had reached the spot after the incident, moved Tadvi’s body to the trauma room and went back to her hostel room again. They were in the room for five to six minutes, Thakare said.
Advocate Gunratan Sadavarte, representing Tadvi’s mother, the informant in the case, had told the court that there is a possibility that the accused had destroyed her suicide note or tampered with other evidence.
Advocate Aabad Ponda, who is representing the three doctors, said the allegation was false.
Observing that an FIR in the matter was registered on May 23, the very next day of the incident, and that the accused were named in it, the court said, “They (the three doctors) were well aware about the FIR, still, they have not cooperated with the investigating officer.”
Advocate Ponda submitted that the accused were exploring their legal options and had filed for anticipatory bail on May 28. Mehare was arrested on the same day, while Ahuja and Khandelwal were arrested the next day (May 29). The court, however, said that it was not explained where the accused were between May 23 and May 28, when the anticipatory bail plea was filed.
“The fact that the police were required to search for the applicants, shows that they were absconding or hiding from the police. Therefore, the respondents (police and informant) rightly submitted that if the applicants are released on bail, there is every possibility that they will not be available for the trial,” the court said.
Ponda had also submitted that the court should consider bail for the three accused as they are women, doctors and have no criminal antecedents.
The court, however, said that in view of the fact that they had prima facie tried to destroy evidence and had not cooperated with the investigation, “there is every possibility of tampering of evidence and witnesses” if they are released on bail.
