Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis on Tuesday told the state assembly that investigators have confirmed the handwriting on the suicide note left by a young woman doctor in Phaltan as her own, and that both men named in it were found to have harassed her.

Responding to a question from BJP MLA Ameet Satam during Question Hour, Fadnavis said the police verification had left “no ambiguity” about the note, which the doctor had written on her palm before she was found dead in an October incident at a hotel in Phaltan, in western Maharashtra.

The doctor, who worked at a government hospital, alleged in the note that police sub-inspector Gopal Badane raped her repeatedly after promising to marry her, while a software engineer, Prashant Bankar, mentally harassed her.

Satam urged the government to clarify whether the handwriting matched and if the men named in the note were implicated in her death.

“The doctor had written a note on her hand, and two names were mentioned in it. It has been found in the investigation that the handwriting matches hers,” Fadnavis said.

He added that investigators have “revealed that police sub-inspector Gopal Badane sexually exploited her by promising to marry her” and that the second accused “also cheated her”.

The chief minister said the autopsy showed the woman died by hanging and “not by strangulation”, but stressed that a judicial inquiry had been ordered to determine whether any other persons were involved. A woman IPS officer is leading the probe.

He said efforts were made to politicise the issue, which is quite "unfortunate".

The chief minister assured the House that women's safety was of paramount importance and that the government was committed to it.

He also said that the woman doctor was on an 11-month contract, so the government cannot consider giving a job to a family member on compassionate grounds, but assured that the family of the deceased will be given maximum assistance.

Replying to a question on the implementation of the Shakti Bill, Fadnavis said it has been returned to the state, as some of its provisions encroached on the Centre's powers.

However, the three new laws Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), Bharatiya Nagrik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), and Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam (BSA) dealt with women's safety more effectively, he said.