Chennai, Mar 19:The Tamil Nadu government late on Thursday night suspended former Special Director General
of Police against whom a woman IPS officer has levelled serious sexual harassment charges.

Police sources said the senior IPS officer was suspended,pending inquiry. Soon after the woman’s complaint to the Director General of Police went viral, he was kept under compulsory wait. His suspension comes in the wake of the Madras High Court’s observation, while taking suo motu cognisance of the womanIPS officer’s case, as to why the special DGP, accused of having made sexual advances towards a woman SP, had not yet been suspended.

The Court also came down heavily on Chengalpattu Superintendent of Police and a lower level officer for intercepting the car of the Woman SP, while she was proceeding to meet the Home Secretary and the DGP to lodge a formal complaint against the Special DGP and for forcibly taking her car keys. The Chengalpattu SP, while intercepting her, also coerced her to talk to the accused IPS officer in a bid to thwart her from lodging the complaint.

The government after transferring the Chengalpattu SP to the Commercial Crimes Investigation Wing, later placed him under suspension. The State government was compelled to suspend the accused IPS officer after the court observed that a person facing sexual harassment charges must be suspended before proceeding with an inquiry. Besides an Internal Inquiry Committee headed by a senior woman IAS officer, the Crime Branch-CID wing of the Tamil Nadu also registered a case against the former Special DGP, the former Chengalpet SP andothers and are investigating.

Since the Madras High Court was monitoring the CB-CID probe, theinvestigating agency submitted a status report on the investigation in a sealed cover.(uni)