Cops suspect Dr Payal Tadvi's suicide note was destroyed by accused

The police, while giving its submission to a special court on Wednesday, said that the accused doctors Hema Ahuja, Bhakti Mehar and Ankita Khandelwal who have been arrested in the case, left no single chance to openly humiliate Tadvi in front of others. The police also stated that Dr Tadvi's relatives suspect that she could have been murdered.

The accused may have hidden or destroyed the suicide note, the police cited in court. "Jo batees daat dikha kar tu photo nikalti hai, vo saare daat hum tod denge" (We will break all of your teeth which you show while clicking photos). This was one of the many humiliating comments which Payal Tadvi used to listen on a daily basis while she was pursuing her post-graduation from the gynaecology department of BYL Nair hospital. As per police reports, Tadvi and her mother Abeda tried to reach out to the higher authorities in the educational institute but no heed was paid at the right time.

The accused trio used to deliver objectionable comments to Tadvi over trivial issues and sometimes, remarks were also passed in front of the patients. "Being the seniors, the responsibility of the accused trio was to guide Tadvi but instead, they threatened her by saying that they will not allow her in the operation theatre, they will not let her learn her academic course at ease, they will not allow her to do a single delivery and also they will ensure that she is removed from the college. The juniors were not assigned work as much as Tadvi did right from taking the patients medical history to preparing medical case papers of a new patient," said a police officer after recording the statement of a family member. Repeated humiliating statement and harassment just hampered her more, the police said.

As per the police records, Abeda and Payal together tried to put forward the issue of deliberate harassment and ragging in front of the concerned authorities of the hospital including the lecturer, the head of the department and the warden. The HOD Dr Yi Ching Ling told Abeda that such instances are common and Payal should be focusing on her course and should not take these matter seriously.