Case of `rape’ registered against IAS official in C’garh

Raipur: A case was registered against an Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer on Wednesday in Chhattisgarh’s Janjgir-Champ district for allegedly raping a 33-year-old woman by threatening to dismiss her husband from the service, police said.

Accused Janak Prasad Pathak is former collector of Janjgir-Champa district and currently Director of Land Records. He has not been arrested yet, said a senior police official.

The woman alleged in her complaint to Janjgir-Champa Superintendent of Police Parul Mathur that on May 15 this year, the officer, then collector of the district, sexually exploited her on the collectorate premises after threatening to sack her husband, a government employee.

The accused also sent obscene messages to her, she said, and provided screenshots of the messages from her mobile phone to police, said the senior police official.

Case was registered against Pathak under IPC sections 376 (rape), 506 (criminal intimidation) and 509 B(word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman), the official said, adding that further investigation is underway.

Pathak, who was transferred from Jangir-Champa on May26, could not be contacted for his comment on the allegations.