Sex for job racket: ‘Over 20 women taken to ex-Andamans Chief Secy house’

The Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the Andaman & Nicobar (A&N) police has claimed that 20 women were taken to ex-chief secretary Jitendra Narain’s residence in the infamous sex for job racket case, according to a report published in The Indian Express.

The police are probing allegations of gangrape and sexual assault against former Chief Secretary, Andaman & Nicobar (A&N) Islands, Jitendra Narain, and Labour Commissioner R L Rishi by a 21-year-old woman.

A day after the allegations, the Centre on October 17 suspended senior IAS officer Jitendra Narain with immediate effect and assured action in the case. The Ministry of Home Affairs in a statement said: “The Government is committed to ensuring zero tolerance towards the acts of indiscipline by its officials irrespective of their rank and status, especially with regard to incidents involving the dignity of women.” Narain, in letters to the Home Ministry and A&N administration said there was a “conspiracy” against him.

The paper reported that over 20 women are alleged to have been taken to Narain’s residence in Port Blair during his year-long tenure and some of them are said to have got jobs in lieu of being sexually exploited.

Narain is expected to appear before the SIT on October 28, the last date set for his appearance by the Calcutta High Court, reported the newspaper.

Senior police officers in Port Blair, according to the daily, confirmed that call data records of mobile phones of the two bureaucrats and of the 21-year-old “match” the alleged sequence of events on two dates, as provided by the woman.

The paper also reported that the hard disk of the DVR (digital video recorder) of the CCTV camera system installed at the Chief Secretary’s house was first erased and, subsequently, the DVR was removed at the time of his transfer from Port Blair to Delhi in July. It is understood that a PWD official and a local CCTV expert have given their testimonies confirming the alleged destruction of electronic evidence.