Former doctor sentenced in Fall River court to child rape, pornography charges

Sujan Kayastha of Dartmouth, a 42-year-old former medical doctor at St. Luke’s Hospital in New Bedford, was convicted Tuesday of Rape of a Child Aggravated by Age Difference, Electronic Enticement of a Child for Commercial Sex, Possession of Child Pornography, Posing a Child in the Nude and Sending Obscene Matter to a Child after a jury trial in the Fall River Superior Court.  The defendant was sentenced immediately after his conviction to a state prison sentence of 12 years followed by 5 years of supervised probation upon release from custody, Bristol County District Attorney Thomas M. Quinn III announced.

Kayastha first met the victim, at the time a fourteen-year-old boy, in September of 2018 online and later exchanged nude photographs and videos with the child, knowing that the child was under 18 years of age.  On December 6, 2018, Kayastha drove to Attleboro where he picked up the boy, who resided in a group home in the area.  He drove the boy to the Shangri-La Motel in Seekonk where he paid the minor victim $200 to engage in a sex act with him. Attleboro Police were alerted after a staff member of the group home reported suspected sexual exploitation of the victim. Attleboro Police were able to recover online records which included communications between Kayastha and the victim along with nude photographs and videos that were exchanged.  Kayastha admitted to having sex with the minor victim. 

The case was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Jose Vazquez and Canan Yesilcimen.

“The defendant was convicted of extremely disturbing and demented conduct involving a very vulnerable fourteen-year-old boy.  He preyed on the victim by exchanging pornographic pictures that resulted in the defendant raping the victim in a motel.  The sentence imposed by the court was well deserved”, District Attorney Quinn said.