'We knew Dr Payal Tadvi would not kill herself without naming culprits'

Dr Salman Tadvi and Dr Payal Tadvi

With the retrieval of Dr Payal Tadvi's suicide note from her mobile phone on Thursday, investigation into her suicide has moved one step ahead. Her husband, Dr Salman Tadvi, has claimed that the three accused doctors must have unblocked her phone using her numerical password to delete the note. As they all worked together in the gynaecology department of Nair Hospital, the accused knew her password, which they used to delete evidence, he said.

The police had given Dr Payal's mobile phone to the Kalina Forensic Laboratory for forensic analysis where the deleted note was retrieved. The investigating team had so far been unable to find the suicide note, thus enabling the defence lawyer to make a stronger argument. On Thursday, however, the investigating team handed over details of her suicide note in a sealed envelope with a nine-page report to the Bombay High Court which was hearing the bail application of the three accused doctors who are in judicial custody.

"I couldn't believe she would take such a step without leaving behind a note about the people who harassed her," said Dr Salman. "So far, the police haven't approached me but when the court asked for a handwriting analysis, we knew they had found this missing piece of the puzzle," he added.

Dr Payal Tadvi's parents. File pic

"It is quite common among doctors to share their password to unlock phones while performing procedures. Being an anaesthetic, I know how common it is among medical practitioners," he said.

"When Payal wasn't answering their calls, they reached her room, broke through the door and recovered her body. Following this, her room remained open for an hour. There is a possibility that the accused doctors removed her suicide letter when they found it because they knew they are at fault," Dr Salman had said at a protest in front of Nair Hospital on May 28.

'No one believed me'

Dr Payal's mother Abeda Khan, too, shared similar concerns regarding the accused deleting the suicide note. Her mother added, "She was my child so my sixth sense told me that she would never let go of the offenders without naming them. But no one believed me until the police actually found it. In the five-minute CCTV footage from the hospital, you can see how the accused doctors went back to her room after her body was taken away," she said.

The police has also imposed Section 201 (causing disappearance of evidence) of the Indian Penal Code upon the three accused. Dr Payal's belongings are still in the hostel and the family plans to take the police along to procure them from her room.

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