HC grants bail to former IAS officer in rape case

Jaipur: Rape accused former IAS officer B B Mohanty gets bail from Rajasthan High Court on Tuesday.
The single bench of Justice Pankaj Bhandari granted bail on condition that the accused will not influence the witnesses and would fully cooperate with the trial.

In January 25, 2014, an MBA student filed an FIR at the Mahesh Nagar Police station accusing the then senior IAS officer Mohanty of raping her.

According to the FIR, the girl accused Mohanty of repeated sexual exploitation by him assuring her of help in clearing Indian Administrative Service (IAS) examination and also later marrying her.

Following the FIR, the government suspended Mohanty. Since then he was absconding.

Mohanty had not even responded to a non-bailable warrant against him for not appearing before the police for questioning in 2014 by a local court.

However, in a surprise move, Mohanty on November 20, 2017 surrendered himself before the police. Mohanty, who was absconding since 2014, came to the ACP office in Sodala and surrendered himself before the police.

R N Mathur appearing for the accused argued that the charge-sheet in the case has been filed and investigation also complete in the case and the accused be given bail considering his age. He also argued that the victim had earlier also made similar allegations against one Ram Gopal and later turned hostile.

Public prosecutor Sudesh Saini opposed the bail on the ground that he was a senior IAS officer on the rank of additional chief secretary when the alleged incident took place. He said the mental state of the IAS officer and victim are at different levels and she could easily carried away under the power and influence of Mohanty.

He further argued that Mohanty must have been fully aware of the consequences of his action. Grating bail to him amounted to set a wrong example for the society. Besides he was absconding for about four years after the incident and the accused belong another state of Orissa.