Court of inquiry against Lt Gen accused of molestation
By IANSTuesday, June 8, 2010
NEW DELHI - The Indian Army has ordered a court of inquiry into allegations of sexual harassment against Lieutenant General A.K. Nanda, accused of molesting his aide’s wife during a trip to Israel last month, sources said Tuesday.
The probe, to be conducted by a senior officer, has been ordered despite the army finding a “number of loopholes” in the complaint by the wife of Nanda’s junior officer.
The court of inquiry will look into the allegations of molestation and other factors like suspected involvement of other people who may have conspired against Nanda, sources in the army headquarters said.
The army wants to carry out the entire process of investigation transparently also because there was no room left for favouritism for Nanda, who is a close aide of Army Chief Gen. V.K. Singh, the sources told IANS.
Nanda, who works as the army’s chief engineer, has been accused of sexual misconduct by the wife of Col C.P.S. Pasricha - a technical secretary - who was with the lieutenant general on an official trip to Israel in the second week of May.
Pasricha’s wife alleged that Nanda misbehaved with her after calling her to his hotel room during the trip and that the incident even led to an altercation between the lieutenant general and her husband.
She complained about the incident to the army chief’s wife Bharti Singh, president of the Army Wives Welfare Association.
Pasricha has been posted to Bhopal.
Nanda, 59, is one of the eight principal staff officers to the army chief and had only about a year ago taken over as the engineer-in-chief. He earlier served as the director general of the Border Roads Organisation.
