Two more doctors arrested in Payal suicide case

MUMBAI: Two more doctors have been arrested for allegedly abetting the suicide of a junior colleague by tormenting her with casteist slurs at a state-run hospital here, taking the total number of those arrested in the case to three, police said Wednesday.

While one doctor, Bhakti Mehere, was arrested on Tuesday after initial interrogation, the two other accused - Hema Ahuja and Ankita Khandelwal - were absconding.

"Ahuja and Khandelwal were arrested in the early hours of Wednesday by the Agripada police in central Mumbai," a senior police official told PTI.

They will be produced in a court on Wednesday, he added.

The three were booked after their junior colleague Payal Tadvi at B Y L Nair Hospital here committed suicide at her hostel last week, a senior police official said.

Tadvi, 26, hanged herself at her room last Wednesday following which her family alleged that the doctors taunted her by ragging and hurling casteist abuses as she belonged to a Scheduled Tribe.

Protesters from the Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi and other Dalit and tribal organisations earlier held protests outside the hospital.

The accused have been booked under relevant provisions of the Scheduled Castes and Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, the Anti-Ragging Act, the IT Act and Section 306 (abetment to suicide) of the Indian Penal Code.