Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government has suspended two senior officials who were arrested in separate cases, with one facing allegations of sexually assaulting a woman employee and the other being arrested in connection with a jailbreak-related case and subsequent allegations of intimidation.
Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi on Friday approved the suspension of Arun Kumar Biswal, Additional Secretary in the Commerce and Transport Department, and Sujit Kumar Roul, Senior Superintendent of Cuttack Circle Jail.
According to the Chief Minister’s Office, both officials had been arrested and remained in custody for more than 48 hours. Under government rules, the two were therefore placed under suspension.
Biswal, a senior Odisha Administrative Service (OAS) officer, was arrested on September 18 following allegations that he raped a woman employee. According to media reports, the incident allegedly occurred after Biswal, reportedly in an inebriated condition, created a disturbance outside the woman’s residence in the Kharavela Nagar police station area on the night of September 17. He allegedly entered the house forcibly and assaulted the woman.
Separately on September 20, Roul was arrested in connection with a case related to a jailbreak incident at Choudwar Circle Jail last year. Former jailor of the prison, Santoshini Dash, had previously accused him of manipulating the prison’s minute book and records and forging her signature.
Following Roul’s arrest, Dash lodged another complaint alleging that she was being pressured and threatened to withdraw her earlier complaint against him.
In her fresh complaint, Dash alleged that Roul was using contacts within and outside the prison department to pressure her into withdrawing the case. She also alleged that she had received messages seeking to persuade her to reach an agreement and claimed that she was subsequently contacted through other people after blocking the numbers from which the messages were allegedly sent.
All these allegations are also subject to investigation and have not been established by a court.
The government’s suspension order relates to the officials’ continued detention for more than 48 hours and does not itself determine the merits of the allegations or the criminal cases against them.
