DIG faces probe over CRPF woman doctor’s allegations

PATNA: A woman doctor of CRPF has lodged a written complaint against the DIG of the paramilitary force for allegedly entering her house and misbehaving in an inebriated condition in Muzaffarpur Saturday night.
The doctor is posted at the CRPF’s composite hospital at Jhapha in Muzaffarpur. The officer who had allegedly misbehaved with her is DIG Surinder Prasad, who heads the Muzaffarpur range under Bihar sector headquarters of CRPF.
Range DIG office and composite hospital are situated along with quarters for the officers as well as subordinates.
When contacted, CRPF (Bihar Sector) IG Hemant Priyadarshy told TOI over phone on Sunday that an inquiry has been ordered on the entire matter after the complaint made against the DIG. “The inquiry would be conducted by a competent authority of the force. Nothing more could be said at this stage,” he said.
“The complaint is that the DIG had entered the doctor’s telephone operator’s room and later into her room at night,” he said.
Sources said the DIG, in his 50s, even had called up the doctor over her cellphone on several occasions in the past and it has also been mentioned in the complaint by her.
When contacted, DIG Surinder said he was tense as his family members had tested positive for Covid. He was going to an officer’s accommodation but mistakenly entered the doctor’s residence located below it in the same building. “I apologised and told her that I mistakenly entered her accommodation. My elderly mother, brother and his wife are Covid-19 positive and had called her up for assistance as I knew she was also into Covid-19 duty,” he said.
Prasad said because of call drops due to poor network, he had to call her multiple times for seeking medical advice.
A senior CRPF officer, privy to the complaint, said if concrete materials are found against the DIG after inquiry, it would damage his professional career. “A DIG of the CRPF posted in Chhattisgarh was dismissed from service last year after an inquiry into a complaint made against him by a woman officer,” he said.
“In such complaints, the inquiry committee is headed by a senior woman officer,” he said.
He said such complaints are taken very seriously as these are related to indiscipline.
“The ratio of women in CRPF and other forces has increased tremendously in the last few years and such issues are dealt with an iron hand,” he added.