Mumbai, May 30 (IANS): In a significant development, the Mumbai Police Crime Branch will take over the investigations into the alleged suicide of Mumbai medico Payal S. Tadvi, official sources said on Thursday.

The development came a day after the three women senior doctors, Bhakti Meher, Hema Ahuja and Ankita Khandelwal, accused of abetment to suicide and other charges, were sent to police custody till Friday by a Mumbai court.

"Considering the seriousness and importance of the case related to Payal Tadavi's death, the investigation has been transferred to Crime Branch," Mumbai Police spokesperson Manjunath Shinge told IANS.

"We had demanded that given the circumstances of the matter, the case should be taken over by the Crime Branch. We discussed it with Shiv Sena leader Neelam Gorhe who in turn raised it with Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis," Tadvi's family lawyer Nitin Satpute told IANS.

A Second Year Post-Graduate student of Gynaecology, 26-year-old Tadvi committed suicide in her hostel room on May 22 at the government-run BYL Nair Hospital.

Her family claimed she was driven to suicide by casteist remarks on her Muslim tribal background and other forms of personal and professional harassment.