Tamil Nadu’s former Director General of Police (DGP) Rajesh Das, was penalised with compulsory retirement on Friday, December 1, a month ahead of his superannuation. In June this year, a court in Villupuram had convicted the former Special DGP for sexually harassing a woman IPS officer while on duty in 2021. The court had slapped Rajesh Das with a fine and also awarded him three years of imprisonment.
The TN government had issued a show cause notice under rule 14(i) of the All India Services (Discipline and Appeal) Rules (penalty is imposed on a member of the Service on the ground of conduct which has led to his conviction on a criminal charge). The decision to penalise Rajesh with compulsory retirement was reportedly arrived at earlier this week by the Home Secretary.
In February 2021, Rajesh Das sexually harassed a woman IPS officer in his vehicle, while both the officers were providing security to then Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami during his election campaign. They were travelling from Karur to Ulundurpet, and Rajesh had asked the woman officer to accompany him in his vehicle saying he would drop her midway at Perambalur.
Following the incident, the woman officer, who managed to leave in another vehicle to Chennai, drafted a complaint against Rajesh to hand over to the DGP. She was allegedly threatened to not file a complaint by Rajesh and other police officers at the time, but she went ahead with the complaint.
Read: How TN IPS officer pursued sexual harassment case against ex-DGP despite pressure