SIT to probe rape charge by job aspirant against top Andaman officials

A special investigation team has been constituted to probe allegations that a 21-year-old woman in Andaman and Nicobar Islands was lured to the chief secretary's home by promising a government job and then raped by top officials there.

The police registered a case earlier this month after the chief judicial magistrate of Port Blair ordered its filing based on a petition by the young woman.

The court which took cognisance of the complaint accusing the then chief secretary of the island Jitendra Narain, a 1990 batch IAS officer, and a labour commissioner R L Rishi of raping the woman besides naming a police officer and hotel owner as among accomplices in the crime, also ordered the probe on August 30.

The Aberdeen police station registered the case and a special investigation team headed by a senior superintendent of police was formed to probe the serious allegation against Narain, who is currently posted as the chairman and managing director of the Delhi Financial Corporation.

The woman alleged she 'was gang-raped' by the two officials after she met them for a job.

She said as her father and step-mother did not take care of her financial needs, she needed a job and was introduced by some people to the labour commissioner as he was close to the then chief secretary.

The woman claimed that the chief secretary appointed '7,800 candidates' in various departments in the administration of the islands 'on the basis of recommendation only' and without any 'formal interview.'

When contacted, Narain told PTI that he cannot comment on the issue as the matter is sub judice.

The woman lodged the complaint with the police on August 21 in which she gave a detailed account of the alleged sexual attack on her twice -- on April 14 and May 1 -- and requested that the CCTV footage of the then chief secretary's residence be preserved as evidence.

She has also requested a test identification parade of the employees -- a cook and a driver -- present at the chief secretary's residence.

The complainant has recorded her statement under section 164 of the Criminal Procedure Code before the chief metropolitan magistrate detailing the allegation.

Anyone giving a statement under this clause of the CrPC will face perjury charges in case it turns out to be false.

In her statement, the woman claimed she was taken to the IAS officer's residence at 9 pm on April 14.

"The then Chief Secretary Shri Jitendra Narain, IAS, assured me that he will very shortly arrange a Govt job in any Department and to be in touch with Shri Rishi for updates," she claimed in the FIR.

She claimed that they assured her of a government job but, subsequently, she was brutally sexually abused by the two men.

The then CS also threatened her to finish her and family members if she revealed to anyone what had happened to her, she alleged.

On May 1, she was again taken to the chief secretary's residence where she was raped by him.

She has also filed a separate complaint with the police against a local journalist, who allegedly gave hints about her identity, and a police officer for leaking information about the case, officials said.

According to sources close to Narain, he joined as chief secretary of Andaman and Nicobar Island in March 2021.