DEHRADUN: Indian Forest Service (IFS) officer and Secretary of the Uttarakhand Pollution Control Board, Sushant Patnaik, has been booked for his alleged inappropriate behavior towards a junior research fellow.
According to police sources, on January 24, IFS Patnaik misbehaved with the victim at the Pollution Control Board office in IT Park.
As soon as the matter was reported, an inquiry was set up based on the instructions from the Chief Minister.
According to the FIR, the victim had gone to the secretary's office on January 24 to express condolences for the demise of Patnaik's father.
The victim has alleged, "During that time Officer Sushant forcibly clenched and kissed her and then later apologized for this act through WhatsApp".
Although the officer deleted those messages, the victim later recovered those deleted messages . Screenshots of the same chat have been given to the police as evidence.
Sushant Patnaik was removed from his post and later attached to forest headquarters.
Sub-Inspector Rashmi Rani of the Rajpur police station told TNIE,"The investigation is progressing based on evidence. No arrests have been executed as of yet."