Maharashtra doctor rapes Moroccan woman in Goa hospital ICU, held

PANAJI: Goa police arrested a 28-year-old doctor, Vrushab Doshi, for allegedly raping a 24-year-old Moroccan national at the ICU in a private hospital at Old Goa where she was seeking treatment. Police nabbed the doctor on Thursday in Solapur, where he was trying to evade arrest.

Doshi, who is from Solapur, has been remanded in one-day police custody.

North Goa SP Rahul Gupta said that Doshi left Goa after the offence. “A team was formed, and Doshi was tracked in Solapur, and was arrested in the alleged rape case. We have registered an FIR against him under various sections of BNS, including rape,” he said.


Police said that as per the survivor, the doctor, along with the nurse, visited her for an examination, but at the time of examination, the accused told the nurse to leave the room.

The survivor, who holds a business visa, arrived in Goa along with a group of people to attend a training programme at Divar island organised by an NGO that works on reducing poverty.

She was staying in a resort at Divar. While she was at the resort, she developed health issues and was shifted to Healthway Hospitals at Old Goa.

Her sister, a Spanish national, said in her complaint that at around 10pm on Aug 31 at the hospital, accused Doshi sexually harassed her sister who was admitted there.

The survivor was admitted to the hospital on Aug 29, and while undergoing treatment in the ICU ward, the accused doctor lifted her hospital gown and touched her inappropriately. The complaint states that the doctor touched her “private area” — under the pretext of feeling sensation for conducting a neurological sensitivity examination — while she was immobile and in a vulnerable condition.

Healthway Hospitals, in a statement, said, “A woman patient admitted to Healthway Hospitals, Old Goa, complained of sexual assault by Dr V Doshi while undergoing treatment”. Upon receiving the complaint of sexual assault from the survivor, “the doctor has been suspended from active duties pending further police inquiry”, the hospital said.

It also said that she was assured full support by the hospital authorities in the process of filing her complaint with police in relation to the alleged offence. “She continues to undergo treatment at Healthway Hospitals’ Old Goa facility. The hospital will continue to provide all moral and logistical support to the survivor during her ordeal.”