Crime branch allowed to question accused doctors

Mumbai: The Bombay high court  on Thursday refused to grant the crime branch custody of three female doctors arrested for abetting the suicide of their junior colleague but allowed it to interrogate them for four days.   

The court, while allowing the crime branch to interrogate the arrested doctors, said, “The accused persons are medical officers and are making themselves available for interrogation. They are not habitual offenders or hardcore criminals.”

The court added that the crime branch, while interrogating the accused trio, should keep these factors in mind.    

A single bench of Justice S.S. Shinde said that the crime branch could summon the three accused from Byculla jail for questioning during the daytime.

“The arrested accused shall be taken from jail, where they are lodged, on Thursday between 2 pm and 6 pm, and on Friday, Saturday and Sunday between 9 am and 6 pm for interrogation,” the court said.     

Earlier this week, the crime branch had approached the high court, seeking custody of the three doctors  – Hema Ahuja, Bhakti Mehare and Ankita Khandelwal. The trio, attached to the B.Y.L. Nair Hospital here, were arrested last week and remanded to judicial custody on charges of abetment of suicide of their junior colleague Dr Payal Tadvi.    

Crime branch counsel Raja Thakre told the court that the probe was handed over to the crime branch the day the lower court remanded the three accused to judicial custody and hence, it did not get an opportunity to interrogate the accused doctors.    

Advocate Aabad Ponda, appearing for the three accused, said that they were ready to cooperate with the investigation and could be taken from the jail daily for questioning. “The bail pleas filed by the accused are listed before the special court on June 10. The crime branch has three days' time to question them and send them back to jail by evening,” said advocate Ponda.

Earlier this month, Dr Salman Tadvi, the deceased’s husband, alle-ged the role of foul play in his wife’s death.  This claim was reiterated by the family's lawyer, Nitin Satpute before a court of law.