Uttarakhand Energy Secretary R Meenakshi Sundaram was intimidated and threatened by a local politician Bobby Panwar, who allegedly misbehaved with him in office. Sundaram is a 2001 batch IAS officer of Uttarakhand cadre.
While Police have registered an FIR against activist Bobby Panwar and two of his associates, the IAS Association of Uttarakhand has met chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami and asked him to ensure a safe working environment for officers in the state government and for legal action to be initiated in the case.
In a complaint to Dehradun SSP Ajay Singh, Senior Personal Secretary (Department of Energy) Kapil Kumar said that Bobby Panwar had come to meet Meenakshi Sundaram at the Uttarakhand Secretariat.
When Panwar was called to the Secretary's room for a meeting, he misbehaved in front of the Secretary and abused, intimidated and threatened to kill the Secretary.
During this, the Secretary called us (Kapil Kumar, Senior Private Secretary and Anoop Dangwal, Additional Private Secretary) and instructed us to send him out. But the said person pushed, manhandled and beat us in front of the Secretary and obstructed government work,” the complaint said.
The complaint also alleged that the accused threatened them by saying, “Dekh lenge (will see you) outside the Secretariat, due to which we fear loss of life and property. If in future anything untoward happens to the Secretary or us, the said person named Bobby Panwar will be completely responsible for it.”
Version of the accused
Denying the allegations raised in the complaint, Bobby Panwar said, “I went to meet Meenakshi Sundaram asking about a demand for investigation against the Energy Department MD that I had submitted a month ago. I asked him to tell me the development in the case, to which he said he does not have any information. I asked him to provide me with the letter for that officer's service extension. He said he cannot give it to just anyone. We then had a heated argument. The other allegations are false.”
In October, MD, Uttrakhand Power Corporation Ltd (UPCL), Anil Yadav, was given a two-year extension. The extension came amid allegations made by many, including Suraj Seva Dal state president Ramesh Joshi, of corruption in the department.
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