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Kolhapur: In the latest development in the Satara doctor suicide case, the deceased doctor performed 113 out of a total of 431 postmortems since January 2023 after joining the Phaltan sub-district hospital, according to her colleagues and hospital officials. It has been alleged that the doctor often insisted on working multiple 24-hour shifts without rest. Concerned about her health, colleagues and nursing staff had advised her to take leave, but she refused and instead worked more at the hospital. Officials said no one at the hospital had asked her to take on such a heavy postmortem workload. As per TOI sources, the number of postmortems conducted by her was significantly higher than those performed by other doctors assigned similar duties during her two years of service.According to the data, the doctor performed 30 out of 144 postmortems in 2023, 47 out of 149 in 2024, and 36 out of 138 postmortems till October 2025, before her death. Also read- Satara doctor suicide: Doctors demand SIT probe, Rs 5 crore compensationMedical Dialogues had reported that a woman doctor working at a Phaltan Sub-District Hospital in Maharashtra’s Satara district allegedly died by suicide, leaving a note on her palm, accusing a police officer and a software engineer of rape and mental harassment. Both accused were arrested in connection with the case.The doctor, hailing from Beed district in the Marathwada region of central Maharashtra and posted at a government hospital in Satara district, was found hanging in a hotel room in Phaltan town on Thursday night. In the suicide note written on her palm, she alleged that police sub-inspector Badane raped her on multiple occasions, while Bankar, a software engineer, mentally harassed her.According to the hospital authorities, the doctor was not forced to handle the excessive number of postmortems. They said she was advised to share the workload, but continued to report for duty more frequently than others.Officials also said the doctor was relieved of her postmortem duties several times, including when she was preparing for the NEET-PG exam, but each time she requested reinstatement because she wished to continue working in Phaltan.This has raised serious questions about why she continued to work beyond the normal limit.The revelation comes after her family, speaking at a press conference in Beed on Monday evening, raised serious concerns about the workload she was assigned. They questioned why she was being made to handle so many postmortems compared to other doctors.Satara district civil surgeon Dr. Yuvraj Karape said no one had forced her to take up postmortems. “She was authorized by the hospital superintendent to assign duties within the team. The inquiry panel set up by the deputy director of health found that she reported to duty more frequently than other doctors."We want to know how many postmortems my sister carried out in comparison to other doctors. Why was she asked to carry out so many postmortems? We also want a detailed investigation into all the postmortems she did, as we believe there must be pressure on her to change the findings,” said the sister.In response, Satara district civil surgeon Yuvraj Karape said, "The doctor was not asked by anyone to take up postmortems. In fact, the hospital superintendent had authorised her to assign duties by conveying the same on an internal media group. An inquiry panel set up by the deputy director of health, Satara, after the doctor’s death, found out that she reported on duty many more times than her similarly placed colleagues.”"The hospital had three permanent and three contractual medical officers. The doctor was thrice relieved of her responsibility under different circumstances, like studying for the NEET-PG exam, and was reinstated each time at her request because she wanted to stay in Phaltan. In order to accommodate her, a permanent doctor who was out of work for some reason was dropped, and she was assigned the duty in his place,” Karape said.Speaking to TOI, Medical Superintendent Anshuman Dhumal said, "A day before she was found dead, the hospital staff, including the doctor, burnt firecrackers on Diwali. At that time, I told her to take leave and visit her parents since they live in a faraway place, unlike other hospital staff who have their families with them. Also, not just me, the nursing staff also advised her to take leave. She used to insist on working for multiple 24-hour shifts in one go. Since Jan this year, she carried out 36 postmortems, another doctor carried out 24, and I myself, despite being a gynaecologist, performed three postmortems,” said Dhumal.Autopsy says death due to hanging, family alleges phone tamperingControversy surrounds her death, whose post-mortem mentioned the cause of death as "asphyxia due to hanging", but her family claimed someone accessed her phone using her fingerprint to erase crucial data after her death.The police in Satara's Phaltan town received the post-mortem report on...
