Ballia,

17 May (HS): The Pandah panchayat's block development officer (BDO) has been

suspended for allegedly harassing a female colleague and sending vulgar texts,

a top official said on Sunday. According

to Chief Development Officer (CDO) Ojasvi Raj, the state government dismissed

BDO Shravan Kumar Gupta in response to a complaint filed by a female employee. According

to the complaint filed on May 8, the BDO reportedly had vulgar discussions with

the female employee on WhatsApp and harassed her. Given the seriousness of the

situation, an eight-member investigation team chaired by Nandita, chairwoman of

the Juvenile Justice Board, was formed to investigate the claims, Raj stated.

The

committee took the woman's statement and conducted an investigation before

delivering its findings on Tuesday, along with suggestions for disciplinary

punishment. The incident was then reported to the Department of Rural

Development, according to the source, and based on the report, the government

ordered the accused officer's immediate suspension.

Hindusthan Samachar / Abhishek Awasthi