THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Senior bureaucrat Biswanath Sinha, who is facing charges of stalking junior women IAS officers over the phone, has gone on leave for three months. The 1992-batch IAS officer is learnt to have submitted his leave application to Chief Secretary Tom Jose and Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Friday. He reportedly also exited from the official WhatsApp group of IAS officers.
Sinha was stripped of the charge of general administration department and was relegated to the less-important printing and stationary and sainik welfare departments on Wednesday. However, the bureaucrat did not take charge of the newly-allocated departments.
Congress leader Jyothikumar Chamakkala alleged that Sinha was transferred in view of complaints levelled against him by some junior IAS officers and trainees. When asked about the matter, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan maintained that no written complaint has been filed against the officer. Sinha has rejected the allegations calling it baseless and said the charges were unsubstantiated.