Rajasthan court rejects Odia IAS officer’s bail plea

Jaipur, March 13;

A court here Thursday rejected the anticipatory bail application of Rajasthan IAS officer B.B. Mohanty, who is accused of raping a 22-year-old woman, a lawyer said.

Umesh Choudhary, lawyer of the woman, said that Mohanty Tuesday filed the anticipatory bail in the court of district judge, Jaipur, through his lawyer.

“The application was transferred to the special court of woman atrocities cases. The court today (Thursday) rejected the bail application on the grounds that no relief could be granted to the accused as he has been declared an absconder and the crime is serious in nature,” he said.

A first information report (FIR) was registered Jan 25 against Mohanty, an additional chief secretary rank officer who was posted as chairman of the Rajasthan Civil Services Appellate Tribunal.

The state government recently suspended Mohanty following the allegations leveled against him about one and a half months ago.

The girl said in her complaint that Mohanty introduced himself as a senior Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer last year and started exploiting her on the promise of helping her clear the IAS examination.

She said the officer sexually exploited her for the first time on Feb 19 last year at his flat.

A court declared Mohanty an absconder in the case on Feb 27 when he did not turn up for police questioning.

(IANS)