E-Paper
Indian-origin man in UK lies about being doctor, tries to kill wife, her kin
Satya Thakor said he lied about becoming a doctor because he feared his family would abandon him and his wedding would be called off if he admitted to not graduating as a doctor.
A medical student who did not complete the course and failed to gain medical qualifications pretended to be a doctor for seven years and tried to murder his wife, mother-in-law and brother-in-law when his lie was about to be exposed in May 2019.
Satya Thakor, 36, tried to suffocate his sleeping mother-in-law before stabbing her at her home in Wraysbury, Berkshire. He then stabbed his wife and his brother-in-law, who had come to their mother’s aid.
Thakor then stabbed his brother-in-law’s wife, but claimed he had no memory of the attack. He was sentenced to 28 years in jail at the Reading Crown Court on Monday.
In a letter to judge Paul Dugdale, Thakor wrote: “The shame of not being able to graduate as a doctor and the fear of admitting this would cause my family and friends to abandon me and my upcoming wedding to be called off, led me to lie and say that I had graduated and become a doctor.”
The court was told that Thakor first attacked his mother-in-law Gita Laxman in her bedroom by trying to force tissue into her mouth and covering her head with a pillow, and stabbing her repeatedly. He then stabbed his wife Nisha in the neck and leg when she ran to help her mother.
Thakor then stabbed his brother-in-law Primal Laxman and his sister-in-law Rishika Laxman as she slept in another bedroom.
Thakor, from Leicester, had been leaving home every day and pretending to go to work but had in fact been spending all day in the library, reading medical books. He thought he was about to be exposed when his wife suggested a dream holiday, for which he had no money.
Judge Dugdale said: “You decided that you simply could not face the truth that you were not going to become a doctor and you decided that the way you were going to get out of that was to tell everyone you were a qualified doctor who had started practice”.
“You were prepared to go to what many people would think were quite extraordinary lengths to continue your deception.”
Investigating officer Sunny Sokhi based at Windsor police station, said: “This was a brutal attack in which Thakor tried to kill several people whom he knew by repeatedly stabbing them. They were at home during this – in a place where they should have had every right to feel safe”.
