Identity of rape-accused doctor revealed after court suppression order lifted (2025)

The identity of a Canberra doctor accused of sexually assaulting staff members of his medical practice can be revealed after a suppression order on his name was lifted.

Rajeev Kumar Pathak, 48, has denied numerous allegations relating to women he previously employed.

Much has been said in court about the cardiologist's prominence in the territory and the hundreds of patients who reportedly depend on his unique expertise. Some, it has been said, with their lives.

However, Pathak is unable to professionally deal with those patients after he was suspended from practising medicine two weeks after being released on bail in February.

After he was arrested on January 23, the ACT Magistrates Court heard Pathak was "not a garden variety applicant" and a magistrate described him as a "person of power".

On that occasion, his identity and the name of his Garran medical practice, Canberra Heart Rhythm, were suppressed.

Granting that order, magistrate Jane Campbell noted: "There is a public interest in knowing your treating doctor has been charged with serious sexual offences."

Order lifted

On Thursday, prosecutor Marcus Dyason successfully applied to have the suppression lifted after arguing for the principles of open justice.

Pathak can now be identified as the man facing 20 charges, including sexual intercourse without consent, assault, committing an act of indecency without consent, and capturing intimate visual data.

Before lifting the order, magistrate Amy Begley also confirmed there was a fifth alleged victim in the case, although it appears no charges have been laid in regard to that person.

Ms Begley ruled against defence claims that revealing Pathak's name would negatively affect the administration of justice, including by discouraging witnesses or by making a fair trial impossible.

The magistrate said that the publication of the accused man's identity may, in fact, strengthen the resolve of the alleged victims and "may also yield further evidence" by allowing more people to come forward.

Three of the alleged victims reportedly supported the lifting of the suppression, while the views of the other two were said to be unclear.

A recently removed "Meet the team" profile about Pathak on the Canberra Heart Rhythm website described him as a "clinical academic and lead of cardiac electrophysiology at The Canberra Hospital".

A spokesperson told The Canberra Times that Pathak was no longer employed by Canberra Health Services and had not done any work for them since 2022.

The website profile also described the man as the "head of the Heart Rhythm Disorders research group at Australian National University", and as having more than 50 publications and 1500 citations.

"He has presented as plenary session speaker in several conferences and has numerous publications in the high-impact cardiology journals," it read.

Pathak's LinkedIn page describes the man as the director of his Garran practice since 2019 and as an associate professor at ANU since 2018.

An ANU spokesperson confirmed the doctor was no longer associated with the university.

They said while Pathak previously held an unpaid Honorary (Clinical) academic appointment at the ANU College of Science and Medicine, he was never employed by the university.

The allegations

Among numerous allegations, the cardiologist is accused of physically assaulting one woman numerous times and of filming himself having sex with her while she was "clearly going in and out of consciousness".

"You are being really dramatic. I did not even hit you that hard," he allegedly said on one occasion.

He also allegedly indecently assaulted another woman inside a nightclub and then a group Uber after a work event, and raped a third woman in a different rideshare two months later.

Court documents claim a fourth woman felt "unsafe and disgusted" on a night when her boss allegedly indecently assaulted her and said it was part of her role to "give him sexual favours".

"[The alleged victim] felt unsafe and disgusted," the documents state.

It's understood Pathak employed dozens of women during the years of his alleged offending.

None of the alleged victims are still employed by the man.

He is set to face court again in May.