Chhattisgarh government has ordered a high-level probe against IAS officer Janak Prasad Pathak for allegedly raping a woman in Janjgir district on the pretext of helping her getting a lucrative assignment last month.
Stung by the sensational case that came to the fore late last evening, chief minister Bhupesh Baghel instructed Chief Secretary R P Mandal to initiate a high-level probe against the accused officer and suspend him from the government service till the probe is on.
However, he is yet to be arrested. Pathak an IAS officer of 2007 batch allegedly raped a 30- year-old woman inside the restroom of his official chamber on 15 May on the pretext of helping her getting the assignment for her NGO when he was posted as District Collector in Janjgir Champa.
He was transferred to Raipur as Director of Land Records only a week ago. She was lured into forced sex after she met Collector Pathak at the district headquarters pertaining to an official work related to her husband who happens to be a government teacher, she alleged.
The officer took her cell number and started intimate chatting with her promising a lucrative assignment to her Non-Governmental Organisation. Soon he started sharing and demanding nude pics from her, as per the victims account.
She was raped in the restroom of the Janjgir Collectorate Chamber on 15 May when she visited him inquiring about the promised assignment.
The ordeal continues for several days since then till he was transferred to capital Raipur, the complainant said.
Soon she realized that she was victimized since there was no trace of promised assignment to her NGO.
She was allegedly threatened by the accused IAS officer that her husband will be terminated from the job when she tried to get rid of her sexual exploitation.
The victim met Superintendent of Police Parul Mathur on Wednesday and narrated her entire sufferings, who after preliminary investigation found enough substance in the allegations. Subsequently, an FIR was lodged in Janjgir Kotwali Police station under section 376 (Rape), 509 (Word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman), 506 (criminal intimidation and threat to cause death or grievous hurt) against J P Pathak, a provincial civil servant who was alleviated to the elite IAS cadre in 2007.