India, July 4 -- The Bombay High Court on Thursday pulled up the Maharashtra government for abruptly removing special public prosecutor (SPP) Pradip Gharat from the case involving the abetment of suicide of Dr Payal Tadvi, without citing any reasons in its official order. The court directed the state to file an affidavit clarifying its stand.

A division bench of Justice Ravindra Ghuge and Justice MM Sathaye was hearing a petition filed by Abeda Tadvi, mother of the deceased doctor, challenging the state's March 7 notification removing Gharat from the high-profile case.

Dr Payal Tadvi, a 26-year-old postgraduate medical student who belonged to the oppressed Tadvi Bhil caste--an Adivasi Muslim community, died by suicide on May 22, 2019, a...