A 28-year-old doctor working at Maharaja Agrasen Hospital was found dead inside her cabin at the neurology ward, where she worked in the critical care unit, on Sunday morning, police said.
DCP (west) Monika Bhardwaj said they found a syringe next to her body and a mark on her left hand. “The case is currently under investigation, which will be carried out by the local SDM,” the DCP said.
Dr Aastha Munjal reportedly left for duty at 5 pm on Saturday and spoke to her husband Dr Udit Dhingra, who works at GTB Hospital, at 10.30 pm. She attended to her last patient at 12.30 am on Sunday.
Hospital authorities found her body in the cabin at 5.15 am and contacted police. No suicide note has been found so far, police said.
The woman’s relatives alleged that Aastha was “under stress for the past few months and had been vocal about some instances of malpractices that she found during her 11-month stint at the hospital”.
Her parents, RK Munjal and Swati Munjal, said they had planned a dinner on Sunday with their daughter and her husband.
As they waited for the autopsy report, the family filled out forms to donate Aastha’s eyes. “I want someone else to see life from my daughter’s eyes,” her father said.
According to DCP Bhardwaj, the staff knocked several times on the door to the cabin at 4.30 am. When they received no response, they broke open the door and found her body. Her purse and other belongings were found intact, said police.
The family has demanded another post-mortem under a medical board, claiming that Aastha’s death was suspicious.
The father alleged that the latch on her cabin door was broken in the wrong direction. He also claimed that there was another door leading into the cabin, but hospital staff did not use it to check on her. The family has given a written statement to the Punjabi Bagh SHO, demanding a probe.
Responding to the claims, Sushil Gupta, president of the hospital and AAP Rajya Sabha MP, said: “There have been no complaints against her, nor did she file a complaint against any colleague. I have asked the medical director to investigate the matter and set up a panel to look into it. We have checked the CCTV footage and shown it to the family. There has been no suspicious activity.”
The hospital, in a statement, said: “As per our initial investigation, it seems she committed suicide by injecting some drug… We are cooperating with police and the family in the probe… The hospital has also set up a five-member internal committee to investigate the matter in detail.”