Mumbai:The roommate of Payal Tadvi, a junior doctor at a hospital here who ended her life following caste-based harassment, has alleged that the three accused used to taunt them saying they got admission in the medical course as they were from a reserved category.
Tadvi, 26, a second-year postgraduate medical student attached to civic-run B Y L Nair Hospital, allegedly committed suicide on May 22. The three accused doctors - Hema Ahuja, Bhakti Meher and Ankita Khandelwal - were arrested on May 29. They are in judicial custody since then.
The Crime Branch on Tuesday filed an over 1,800-page charge sheet against the three of Tadvi's seniors accused of abetting her suicide. It contains a copy of the three-page suicide note allegedly written by Tadvi before hanging herself in hostel room.
The charge sheet relies heavily on the suicide note.
Tadvi's roommate and friend Snehal in her statement to the police, which is part of the charge sheet, has said Ahuja, Meher and Khandelwal used to harass and ill-treat them in front of other juniors, hospital staff and patients.
"The trio (Ahuja, Meher and Khandelwal) used to call me dumb and Tadvi over smart and used to make fun of us," Snehal said in her statement.
She added that in May, Ahuja asked Tadvi and Snehal how much had they scored in the NEET and taunted them saying they got admission in the medical course as they were from a reserved category.
While the police are yet to recover the hard copy of the suicide note, they recovered photographs of the purported note from Tadvi's mobile. The prosecution's case is that the three accused had destroyed the hard copy of the suicide note.
Tadvi's family had alleged that Ahuja, Meher and Khandelwal ragged her and hurled casteist slurs at her, forcing Tadvi to take the extreme step.
The suicide note begins with Tadvi apologising to her parents for taking her own life, saying things at the hospital have become "unbearable".
"I hold Hema Ahuja, Bhakti Meher and Ankita Khandelwal responsible for my condition and that of Snehal Shinde's (victim's colleague and friend)," the note said.
It added that Tadvi tried several times to speak to other seniors about the treatment meted out to her, but no action was taken.