Chhattisgarh government on Thursday suspended 2007 batch Indian Administrative Services (IAS) officer Janak Prasad Pathak after a rape case was registered against him in Janjgir Champa district of the state late on Wednesday night.
Pathak was the district collector of Janjgir Champa till recently and was currently posted as director of land records.
The general administration department (GAD) of Chhattisgarh issued the order of suspension of Pathak, finding his conduct ‘unbecoming of an officer and violative of rule 3 of All India Services (Conduct) Rules, 1968’. The order, issued on Thursday afternoon, also mentioned that the FIR had been registered against Pathak under Sections 376, 506 and 509 (b) of IPC and was pending investigation.
A high-level inquiry has also been ordered against the suspended officer at the direction of Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel. The CM had directed the chief secretary R.P. Mandal to suspend the officer immediately earlier in the day.
The FIR was registered against Pathak on Wednesday night on the basis of a complaint of a 33-year-old woman, who said that Pathak had raped her in his office (as collector of Janjgir Champa) on May 15. The woman said in her complaint that Pathak had been threatening to dismiss her husband, who is a government employee in the district.
She also said that the accused would send her obscene messages and make objectionable calls using social media. The woman has submitted screenshots of such messages and recordings of call to the police. She said she could not register complaint earlier as Pathak continued to be the district collector till May 26, when he was transferred out of the district as part of administrative haul in the state.
The woman had met the officer for some work related to her NGO on March 13. After this, the collector started messaging her, calling her and made objectionable propositions and forced her to meet him. The woman avoided meeting him saying the lockdown was in place, but was threatened that her husband would be dismissed. She then met him on May 15, when the accused allegedly took her to the ante-chamber in his office and raped her, the complaint said.
Superintendent of Police of Janjgir Champa, Parul Mathur told media that the FIR was registered against Pathak after the mobile records of the woman was verified.
