Highway horror: Pune doctor found dead en route to Bengaluru; wrist slit, injuries on neck

KOLHAPUR: A 44-year-old gynaecologist from Bibvewadi in Pune was found dead, lying with injury marks on her left-hand wrist and neck near her hatchback car at Islampur in Sangli district, about 200km from Pune on the National Highway to Bengaluru, Tuesday evening.Based on circumstances, the Islampur police are not ruling out the possibility of the incident being a case of death by suicide. "Evidence collected so far showed she was all alone while driving the car from her Pune residence to Nipani in neighboring Karnataka before turning back and taking a halt at the spot where her body was found," inspector Sanjay Harugade of the Islampur police told TOI.The police recovered CCTV footage from toll booths and private establishments along the highway and the same showed she was travelling alone, Harugade said.

"Her phone was on a switched off mode since Tuesday morning when she left home telling her family that she is leaving for work," the officer added.Police investigation revealed that the gynaecologist, also a mother of two, was battling depression after the couple's clinic at Mulund in Mumbai, where they stayed before shifting to Pune, had to be shut down during Covid time, the police said.In Pune, she started working with a multidisciplinary hospital, police said.

The couple has one son, who is studying in Std X, and a daughter, who is a Std VII student."A trail of blood from the car driver's seat to the back side of the car where she was found dead, suggested that she may have stepped out of the car after inflicting injuries to herself. There was blood inside the car, on the driving seat and as she might have walked to the back of her car," Harugade said.He said, "A blade was found at the spot.

Preliminary postmortem mentioned the time of death between 7.30pm and 8pm Tuesday and identified profuse bleeding from the wrist vein as the cause of death. She made four cuts on the wrists. There were some marks on her neck too, might be an attempt to cut the jugular vein, but marks didn't make deep cuts."The police received a call from a passerby informing them about the woman found lying motionless near the car. An Islampur police team reached the spot and took her to the sub-district govt hospital where the doctors declared her dead, the officer said.A case has been registered under section 194 (inquiry into unnatural death, including suicide, homicide, accidental death, and suspicious death) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Surakshan Sanhita.In Pune, a spokesperson of the hospital where the gynaecologist was working, said, "The doctor was associated with the hospital for about two months, during which she was on leave for 15 days. There was no significant professional or personal interaction with the hospital or any of its employees.

We extend our heartfelt condolences on her passing.Maharashtra Legislative Council's deputy chairperson Neelam Gorhe called Sangli's superintendent of police Sandip Ghuge to seek an ‘in depth investigation' into the doctor's death on the national highway. "It is important to find out if this is a case of death by suicide or a homicidal death considering the injury marks on the victim," she said."I have asked the police to verify if she was driven to take the extreme step by way of any threat.

The police should check her mobile phone, communication, CCTV footage, call records, emails or any social media chat to find out the exact reason behind her death," Gorhe said.When contacted, Sangli SP Sandip Ghuge told TOI, "We have not received any complaint so far regarding the incident from anyone. The doctor's family is in grief. We have raised a query with the Islampur sub-district hospital's medical authorities about the injury marks on her body and they will give their opinion. We are gathering all technical evidence."(With inputs by Steffy Thevar from Pune)