PGIMER suicide case: Victim’s husband alleges harassment, police launch probe

The postmortem of the victim was conducted on Tuesday; however, the body remains at the hospital mortuary as the family is awaiting the arrival of the victim’s son from abroad

A day after a 53-year-old supervisor radiographer ended her life on the PGIMER campus, UT police initiated an inquiry in the case, and questioned a tutor and his wife for hours on Tuesday after a formal complaint was filed by the deceased’s husband.

The spouse of the deceased alleged that his wife had been facing harassment from her colleagues. (HT File Photo)

The postmortem of the victim was conducted on Tuesday. However, the body remains at the hospital mortuary as the family is awaiting the arrival of the victim’s son from abroad.

The deceased’s spouse alleged that his wife had been facing harassment from her colleagues, including some doctors, for several months. He asserted that the incident should be viewed as a case of murder. He also claimed that the police have not lodged an FIR despite his formal complaint and statement. He also suspects that the PGIMER administration had closed the file and given a clean chit to “all accused who compelled his wife to take this drastic step”.

Sector 11 SHO inspector Malkit Singh said, “The couple and other staff members were questioned after a written complaint by the deceased’s husband. An FIR has not been filed at this point. The police are examining all aspects of the case.”

The deceased’s husband mentioned, “For the past 15 days, my wife was complaining of being harassed by her colleagues, including some doctors of the department. I advised her to resign from her job. However, she expressed concerns about our outstanding loans and insisted on continuing her job.”

He further stated, “On Monday, she submitted two letters to the PGIMER administration, one including her resignation, and the other for requesting assistance in her work to alleviate her burden. Even after her resignation, these individuals continued to harass and threaten her to such an extent that she chose to end her own life, leaving behind young children.”

He added, “She had sent a detailed message to the head of the department on WhatsApp, outlining the issues she had been facing from her colleagues. However, even the HoD did not show any concern about the matter raised by a worker in service for 30 years.”

“The PGIMER administration has not constituted any committee to probe the matter internally. The workers who all are facing allegations were on their regular duties on Tuesday as well, he added. The deceased is survived by her husband and two children, a 20-year-old son and a 24-year-old daughter. No suicide note was recovered from the CT Scan room where she locked herself before slashing her wrist that led to her death.