Additional chief secretary, Keshav Kumar Pathak, 1990 batch Bihar cadre IAS officer seems to have landed in deep trouble. A district court of Muzaffarpur has initiated judicial trial against Pathak in a case where serious allegations of culpable homicide have been levelled against him. The case is related to death of public prosecutor and the court has recorded statement of the complainant on Saturday. The next date of hearing is scheduled November 8, 2023.
Pathak is currently serving as additional chief secretary education and considered as one of the favourite officers of chief minister Nitish Kumar.
What is the Case?
The case dates back to January 23, 2022 when K K Pathak was additional chief secretary of excise and prohibition department in Bihar. During a video conferencing regarding complete prohibition of liquor sale in Bihar K K Pathak is said to have misbehaved, used abusive language with special public prosecutor of excise court Bajrang Prasad Singh and allegedly mentally tortured him. On the same night, Bajrang Prasad Singh died of heart attack following the meeting.
An advocate of Muzaffarpur Sudhir Kumar Ojha has registered a case of culpable homicide against K K Pathak citing misbehaviour and mental torture as the reason for the death of Bajrang Singh.
Apart from K K Pathak, other officers like then home secretary Jitendra Srivastava, special secretary law Jyoti Swaroop Srivastava and director prosecution Prabhunath Singh have also been named as accused in this case.
“Being an IAS officer, you have no rights to mentally torture and misbehave with anyone. These officers harassed Bajrang Singh, tortured him and due to tension, he suffered heart attack and died. The case should be investigated properly and accused should be brought to book,” said Sudhir Kumar Ojha, advocate.
Bold and straight forward officer
K K Pathak is considered to be a bold and straight forward officer. He carries an honest image but finds himself in news for wrong reasons. Recently he had a tiff with Bihar education minister Chandrashekhar who alleged that the working style of Pathak is autocratic and Pathak doesn't keep minister in loop. Pathak had banned the entry of private secretary of the minister in his office. Chief minister had to intervene to settle the matter.
In February this year, he again found himself in trouble when Bihar Administrative Services Officers Association has complained against Pathak for misbehaving with a Bihar Administrative Services officer publicly in a meeting. He allegedly used abusive and unparliamentary language against the officer in a public meeting.
‘Pathak is an honest officer. But he is short tempered and has sharp tongue. He should keep his cool,” said a Bihar administrative services officer.
Vivek Shukla is a management graduate who has worked in corporate worked for 20 years and is now pursuing his passion — news.
