[Bengia Ajum]
ITANAGAR, 30 Oct: Former principal resident commissioner of the Arunachal Bhavan in New Delhi, Jitendra Narain, a 1990 AGMUT cadre Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer, appeared before a special investigation team (SIT) on Saturday to face questioning over the charge of gangrape against him.
The incident reportedly occurred in Port Blair, the capital of Andaman & Nicobar Islands.
Narain was placed under suspension by the ministry of home affairs (MHA) on 17 October and disciplinary proceedings were ordered against him after the MHA received a report on 16 October from the Andaman & Nicobar Police regarding the alleged sexual assault.
“As the report indicated the possibility of grave misconduct and misuse of the official position on the part of Jitendra Narain, the union home minister directed to take immediate strict action against the officer concerned as per law,” the order read.
Narain was posted in Delhi at the time of his suspension.
The Andaman & Nicobar Islands Police registered a case earlier this month, based on a complaint filed by a woman who alleged that she was sexually abused by Narain and others on the pretext of providing a government job.
Narain was the chief secretary of Andaman & Nicobar Islands at the time of the alleged incident.
He had been appointed as the chief secretary of Andaman & Nicobar Islands in March 2021. The woman lodged the complaint with the police on 21 August this year, providing a detailed account of the alleged sexual attack on her twice – in April and May – at the residence of the then chief secretary.
Narain arrived in Port Blair on Thursday for questioning by the SIT.
Narain has served twice in Arunachal. He had been transferred to Arunachal from Delhi in March 2016. In 2020, when he was posted as the principal resident commissioner of the Arunachal Bhavan in New Delhi, the state government had constituted a two-member high-level inquiry committee, which included Narain and Home Commissioner Kaling Tayeng, to probe into the high-profile APSSB cash-for-job scam.
The committee had been entrusted with the task of examining and finding out whether procedures and safeguards were put in place to ensure transparent functioning of the APSSB in consonance with the Act and rules, and for conducting of free and fair examination by the board. Further, the committee was to examine and fix responsibilities for administrative lapses by the officers involved in the examination process and recommend suitable disciplinary action against the erring officers and officials.
The report of the committee was never made public by the state government, despite several NGOs and pressure groups asking the state government to make it public.
