Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel on Thursday issued orders to suspend an IAS officer accused of raping a 33-year-old woman in Janjgir- Champa district of the State, officials said.
The Chief Minister also ordered that a high-level committee be formed to investigate the case, they said.
On Wednesday, an FIR was registered against IAS officer Janak Prasad Pathak for allegedly raping the woman during his tenure as Janjgir-Champa Collector last month.
“Taking serious congnisance of the allegations against the officer, the chief minister has directed Chief Secretary R P Mandal to suspend him with immediate effect and get the matter probed by a high-level committee,” an official statement here said.
Pathak was transferred as Director of Land Records in Raipur from Janjgir-Champa on May 26 this year.
In her complaint to Janjgir-Champa Superintendent of Police Parul Mathur on Wednesday, the woman alleged that on May 15 this year, the officer, then Collector of the district, sexually exploited her on the collectorate premises by threatening to sack her husband, a government employee, a police official said.
The accused also sent obscene messages to her, she alleged in her complaint, and provided screenshots of the messages from her mobile phone to the police, he said.
The case was registered against Pathak under IPC sections 376 (rape), 506 (criminal intimidation) and 509 B (word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman).