In a shocking development, noted social worker and public health expert Dr Sheetal Amte-Karajgi, granddaughter of Magsasay Award winner Murlidhar D Amte alias Baba Amte, committed suicide on Monday monring, by allegedly injecting herself with some poisonous liquid,  in Warora taluka  town in  Chandrapur district of eastern Maharashtra.

Dr. Sheetal was the CEO of Maharogi Sewa Samiti and also a member of the board of the directors of the organisation that focuses on helping people disadvantaged by leprosy. She used to run “Anandwan”, a place housing Maharogi Sewa Samiti (Leprosy Service Society) that her grandfather had founded at Warora in Chandrapur district which had converted into a smart village.    

Dre Sheetal was declared dead at Warora sub-district hospital, where she had been rushed to earlier in the morning after it was prima facie learnt that she had administered herself with a poisonous injection.

She was 40 and is survived by her husband Gautam, six years old son Sharvil Karajgi and her parents Dr Vikas Amte and Bharati Amte. Her famous uncle Prakash Amte and Mandakini Amte, both Magsaysay laureates, are doctors at Anandwan.

Given that the motive behind Dr Sheetal’s suicide is not known, the Chandrapur district police have launched investigations into her death. The investigators are trying to ascertain if she had left a suicide note.

Significantly enough, Dr Sheetal had posted a photograph of an acrylic painting named “War and Peace” done by her on a 30 inches x 30 inches canvas on her twitter handle on Sunday. The painting carried her name and date “Dr. Sheetal Amte-Karajgi 29.11.2020”.  The investigators are examining the abstract painting to see if it gives any clue for the cause of her decision to end her life.  They are looking into  the reported dispute  within her family.

There were reports in the local media in recent months about the internal feud within the Amte family. Dr Sheetal was the epi-centre of the family feud. Unconfirmed reports said that Dr Sheetal had been under considerable mental strain during the recent months.

In a joint statement issued on November 22, 2020, Dr Sheetal's parernts Dr Vikax Amte, Dr Bharati Amte, her uncle Dr Prakash Baba Ambe and aunt Dr Mandakini Prakash Amte had clarified that there had been no dispiute within their family. “For three generations, we have been living together harmoniousluy . Dr Sheetal  Gautam Karajgi has made greeat contribnution to our organisation. But, now she has admitted in social media that she is under mental tension and disappointment. Whatever allegations that made against ther trustees of Maharogi Sewa Samiti and their style of fuicntioning are baseless..We are issuing clarification jointly to remove misunderstanding, if any, in the minds of the people,” the four Amte family members stated in their jolint statement.

After completing her medicine from the Government Medical College in Nagpur in 2003, Dr Sheetal started working at Anandwan to contribute to her famous grandfather's vision. Her brother Kaustubh is an accountant for Anandwan.

Among other things, Dr Sheetal helped to secure the financial assistance of the Tech Mahindra Foundation to provide food for children in Anandwan schools. She also led the installation of Solar Power panels at Anandwan, resulting in Maharogi Sewa Samiti receiving an award for Innovative Energy Project of the Year 2016 from the  Association of Energy Engineers. She was planning  to incorporate more smart technology into the community in future.

In 2016, Dr Sheetal was named a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum. She was also nominated as a United Nations Innovation Ambassador and an advisor to i4P (Innovations for Peace).

That she in an excellent frame of mind could be evidenced from the fact that she had retweeted some positive posts and on November 24 posted ex-ray images of the legs of a lady leprosy patient with a message that read as follows: “This is a lady who had leprosy. She has no fingers. Her eyes don't shut. She has raised many kids. Though statistically not significant for the world, these are real people with very complex issues we are dealing with every day. They are fighters”.

In another tweet posted on November 19, Dr Sheetal had opined that one should not feed trolls. “The first rule of social media sanity: don’t feed the trolls. When someone courts controversy and hurls insults, responding runs the risk of reinforcing the behavior. If people are seeking attention, sometimes silence is the message that speaks loudest. @AdamMGrant,” her message read.