On August 27, Dr Rajendra Rupnavar climbed an electrical tower near Sion railway station and told the police below that he was facing action at his workplace and had been removed from his job. As fire brigade personnel tried to persuade him to come down, the 28-year-old doctor, who had travelled from Satara to Mumbai two days earlier, allegedly attempted to hang himself outside one of Mumbai’s busiest suburban train stations.

He was brought down alive and taken to Sion Hospital. Four days later, he died after suffering a cardiac arrest.

The death of the young doctor from a farming family to the tower outside one of Mumbai’s busiest railway stations is now the subject of a police investigation and a demand from his family for an SIT probe. His brother and colleagues allege that Rupnavar had been under pressure after refusing to issue a medical fitness certificate required for a firearm licence, and that his subsequent suspension and departmental inquiry pushed him further into distress.

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The allegations have also brought scrutiny on the administration of the Sub-District Hospital in Phaltan, where Rupnavar worked as a contractual medical officer.

According to his brother Sagar Rupnavakar, the trouble began on July 27, when a man identified by the family as Prasad Kondedeshmukh allegedly came to the Phaltan hospital with a bouncer and sought a medical fitness certificate required for obtaining a gun licence.

Rupnavar allegedly refused to issue the certificate, citing technical difficulties.

“My brother refused to issue the fitness certificate as there were some technical difficulties. The person threatened him, saying that he was a former minister’s personal assistant and that he would see how my brother survived in the hospital,” Sagar alleged.

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A verbal altercation followed, according to the family. Sagar alleged that Kondedeshmukh subsequently approached Rupnavar’s senior, Dr Leela Madane, and obtained the certificate.

The next day, July 28, Rupnavar was suspended and a departmental inquiry was initiated against him, Sagar alleged.

For Rupnavar’s family, the timing of the action was significant. They say he believed he was being punished for refusing to issue the certificate.

“He belonged to a family of farmers and had earned his degree through hard work. He was depressed because he was suspended without any reason,” Sagar said.

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Rupnavar’s friends and colleagues say he did not want to simply walk away from the matter.

Dr Amol Bansude, a medical intern at Pune’s Sassoon General Hospital and a friend of Rupnavar, said he had spoken to him about the pressure he was facing.

“I told him to forget this episode and move on,” Bansude said.

Bansude said he had even asked his friend to leave the Phaltan job and come to Pune, where there were openings at Kamala Nehru Hospital.

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“But he refused. He believed in justice and was determined that justice be done,” Bansude said.

Rupnavar had come from a poor family and had worked his way through medical education, eventually gaining admission to Grant Medical College in Mumbai. He had been working at the Phaltan hospital for around one-and-a-half years.

His colleagues said he began speaking publicly about the alleged harassment and pressure through WhatsApp statuses, Instagram reels and other social media posts.

On July 29, he posted a suicide note written on his left palm as his WhatsApp status. Dr Apurv Dalvi, national coordinator of the All India Medical Students Association, alerted the Indian Medical Association.

Dalvi said Rupnavar had also called him earlier.

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“I am feeling so bad that I was caught up with a protest—foreign medical graduates in New Delhi—that I could not immediately attend Dr Rupnavar’s call a fortnight ago,” Dalvi said.

After the IMA was alerted, its Maharashtra president Dr Santosh Kulkarni contacted Medical Superintendent Dr Leela Madane.

“This was three weeks ago when we asked them to conduct a proper enquiry. Dr Madane informed us that he was fine and at his brother’s house,” Kulkarni said.

Rupnavar’s family says his distress had become evident well before he left for Mumbai.

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According to Sagar, his brother had written on his palm that he would take an extreme step if his superiors were not suspended within a month.

“He had written on his palm that he would take an extreme step if his superiors were not suspended within a month. He did exactly that,” Sagar alleged.

The family says Rupnavar felt he had been suspended despite doing what he believed was his professional duty.

His friends, meanwhile, say he had become increasingly upset.

On August 25, Rupnavar left Satara and travelled to Mumbai, according to his family.

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His colleagues said he had come to the city hoping to bring his grievances to the attention of senior authorities. They alleged that he was unable to meet the officials concerned.

Two days later, at around 8.30 am, the Dadar Government Railway Police received information that a man had climbed an electrical tower near Sion railway station.

Police and fire brigade teams rushed to the spot.

“We had received information that a man had climbed an electric tower and was visibly distressed. We alerted the fire brigade department and two teams reached the spot. We were all trying to pacify him, but he was in distress and was not in a position to listen,” said Anil Kadam, senior police inspector of Dadar GRP.

The man identified himself as Rajendra Rupnavakar.

According to the GRP, he told police that an inquiry had been initiated against him at his workplace and that he had been removed from his job.

He then allegedly attempted to hang himself.

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Fire brigade personnel rescued him using an automatic staircase and took him to Sion Hospital.

Rupnavar was admitted to the ICU in a critical condition. His family was informed.

His brother said that doctors initially revived him.

“On August 27, the doctors had revived him. I had seen him and he was doing well. However, he died yesterday. We are at a loss for words,” Sagar said.

According to the Sion Hospital administration, Rupnavar had suffered a cervical injury and developed complications related to it. He subsequently suffered a cardiac arrest during treatment and died on August 31.

The hospital has said the exact medical cause of death will be established through medical and post-mortem records, which will be submitted to police.

Whether the alleged pressure Rupnavar faced at work had a connection with his suicide attempt will also have to be established through the investigation.

On Monday, Dr Leela Madane, Medical Superintendent of the Phaltan Sub-District Hospital, was suspended.

The suspension order cited alleged insensitivity and harsh communication with junior medical officers. It also referred to an inquiry committee’s findings of mismanagement and lack of control in the hospital administration.

Madane was unavailable for comment.

Rupnavar’s death has also revived questions about the working environment at the hospital. A woman doctor who had worked at the same hospital died by suicide in 2025, after which allegations of workplace harassment and pressure had emerged and doctors’ organisations had sought an impartial inquiry.

The Dadar GRP has registered a zero FIR based on a complaint by Rupnavar’s family. A case of abetment to suicide has been registered and the matter transferred to Satara police because the events that allegedly preceded the suicide attempt took place there.

“This was a zero FIR registered based on the complaint filed by the family members of the deceased. Charges of abetment of suicide have been invoked. The Government Railway Police (GRP) then sent the case to Satara police,” a police officer said.

Satara Superintendent of Police Nikhil Pingle confirmed that the case had been transferred.

“The case registered at GRP Dadar has been transferred to Satara police, and a probe has been launched,” he said.

The family, however, wants the investigation to go beyond the events at Sion. It has demanded an SIT probe into Rupnavar’s suspension, the departmental inquiry and the alleged pressure surrounding the medical fitness certificate.

“We want a fair SIT probe and the removal of Dr Leela Madane. Until then, we will not accept his body,” Sagar said.

NCP (SP) leader Rohit Pawar has also visited the family and demanded an SIT probe, as well as the removal of Rupnavar’s superiors pending an inquiry.

While the Central unit of Maharashtra Association of Resident Doctors have demanded an immediate, impartial and transparent investigation into the circumstances of Dr Rupnavar’s death, Dr Atharva Shinde, President also said that there should be strong laws and institutional mechanisms to prevent mental harassment of doctors.“ We need a safe ,dignified and supportive working environment for every doctor,” Dr Shinde said. Dr Dalvi also stressed that there should be a portal where direct grievances can reach and timely intervention can be taken up. Dr Kulkarni has also said that this second tragic incident related to alleged harassment and external/political pressure are deeply concerning. “No doctor should be driven to the brink of despair because of harassment or external pressure,”he said.