South SP accused of mental harassment by govt employee

SP REFUTES ALLEGATIONS, LAUNCHES COUNTER ALLEGATIONS AND INVESTIGATION INTO THE CASE
NAMCHI, 27 June: A government employee working with the Disaster Risk Management, Land Revenue Department posted here at the South district headquarters, Namchi has levelled allegations of mental harassment against the Superintendent of Police, South, Manoj Tiwari.
According to Deeki Bhutia of Land Revenue Department, Namchi, one Esther Pradhan had claimed of receiving text messages from Deeki’s mobile number and placed a complaint with the SP South. The matter was later settled between the two at the Disaster Risk Management DPO’s office, after Deeki gave her clarifications and Esther issued a written apology to her.
Deeki further mentioned that few days later she had come to Gangtok to sit for some examination. When she came out of the examination hall she found several missed calls from the SP South and a text message that read, “Since you have failed to appear before my office at Namchi PS despite being informed twice and failed to answer my calls, legal action is now initiated against you. Since the matter is cognizable and non-bailable you are being given a last opportunity to clear your position at Namchi PS by 04:30 P.M. today. Regards! Manoj Tiwari, I.P.S. S.P. South Sikkim”.
Deeki immediately called the SP informing him about the reasons for not answering his calls. She was then asked to report to his office the same day. Already late in the day, Deeki said that she somehow managed to find a vehicle and reached Namchi PS at around 8 PM. After a long wait she was asked to go home at 10 PM and to come the next day. The next day, she reached Namchi PS along with her parents at 10 AM and the SI Namchi PS called the complainant, Esther a number of times but received no answer. Deeki was finally asked to return home at 2 PM.
While speaking to media persons yesterday, Deeki said that she along with her family is being harassed by the SP South regarding a case which she has no connection with.
When contacted by NOW!, SP South accepted that the case is under investigation and clarified that Esther had filed a complaint stating that she had been receiving lewd text messages from different numbers and Deeki’s number was one of them. Further clarifying that he has ‘no personal interest’ in the case, the SP said that when he had called the number [Deeki’s] earlier, a male voice had answered the call which raised his suspicions.
However, he said that when Deeki answered the call i.e on the day of examination he was led to believe that there could have been some misunderstanding. “She was asked to report to Namchi PS as it is the legal procedure of Police,” the SP said.
The SP further informed that some days later, Deeki contacted him presenting phone records from her phone company which showed that no message had been sent from her number to Esther’s. On this, the SP stated that a message received from Deeki’s number is stored in Esther’s phone which raises questions on the phone company and the records. He also said that investigations into how Deeki procured the phone records from the phone company without any official authorization are on.
The SP further stated that now South district police is planning to file a case against the phone company now.
Regarding allegations of not entertaining the FIR filed by Deeki, the SP said that he will first investigate how she got the call details and only then look into the FIR following the authenticity of the details. On the matter being resolved earlier at the DPOs office, the SP said that since the DPOs office is not entrusted with law enforcing duties and a complaint was registered with the South district police investigations had to be continued.
Meanwhile, not satisfied with the action taken by SP South, Deeki has now decided to approach the Women’s Commission, Tribal Forum and even the Chief Minister with her grievances.