Top Odisha bureaucrat Taradatt to appear before SCW

Odisha Sun Times Bureau
Bhubaneswar, Oct 12:

It seems troubles are mounting for senior Odisha cadre bureaucrat Taradatt. Just two days after the court of member Board of Revenue sent him a notice for buying a piece of disputed land in Chandrasekharpur mouja here, the Odisha State Commission for Women (OSCW) has sent him a notice to appear before it tomorrow for a hearing in a case wherein his wife Indulata Das has charged him of adultery and moral turpitude.

The 1983-batch IAS officer Taradatt and his wife Indulata Das, renowned educationist and Sanskrit scholar will appear before the OSCW tomorrow at 3.30 PM.

Indulata has alleged before the Commission that her husband has an adulterous relationship with a woman IAS officer based at Delhi. She had even drawn the attention of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik about her plight but to no avail.

“The Commission had for the first time summoned both of us to appear before it on March 13 this year.  Again it has summoned my husband Taradatt to appear before it tomorrow at 3.30 PM for fact finding inquiry. I have been asked to be present during the hearing,” the complainant said.

Earlier, the senior bureaucrat in his reply to the OSCW had stated that his wife Indulata is afflicted with mental illness.

However, Indulata has denied of being a patient of mental illness and has rather queried if that was true why her husband didn’t take her to a doctor for treatment.

“If I am a mental patient why hasn’t he taken me to a doctor for treatment? Who has treated me? What medicines were given to me? Which mental hospital was I taken to? What does it mean to call me mental patient after ten years,” said Indulata speaking to reporters here today.

Earlier, on July 16 this year two days after Indulata approached the OSCW and levelled ‘moral turpitude’ charges against her husband, Taradatt had refuted the allegations.

Taradutt had said: “Indulata’s allegations are false; I am ready to face any test.”

“I have maintained the sanctity of marriage and she is suspicious by nature,” the 1983 batch IAS officer had said.

Notably, Indulata had earlier filed a written complaint with the Chief Minister’s Grievance Cell on December 5 last year alleging that her husband is subjecting her to mental and physical torture. She had also complained of a threat to her life and had sought police security.

It may be recalled that the Opposition had created a furore in the state Assembly in March this year seeking reply from Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on steps taken to provide security to her.

The senior IAS officer allegedly has an extra-marital affair with a woman bureaucrat against whom allegations of compromising national security have been levelled earlier, Congress leader Tara Bahinipati had claimed.