Thursday, May 22, 2025

Nagaland suspends IAS officer Reny Wilfred amid probe into sexual harassment allegations against him | India News

The Nagaland government has suspended IAS officer Reny Wilfred, who was the Joint Secretary of the Investment and Development Authority of Nagaland (IDAN), amid a criminal investigation into sexual harassment charges against him.

In April, the Nagaland Police had constituted a special investigation team (SIT) to probe the allegation against Wilfred, a 2015-batch officer from the Nagaland cadre, raised by employees of IDAN.

Soon after that, he was relieved of his position in the IDAN. However, several influential groups in the state, including the Naga Students’ Federation and the Naga Mothers’ Association, had demanded that he be placed under suspension until the end of the investigation.

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In an order signed by Chief Secretary J Alam on Wednesday, he was placed under suspension citing “a criminal offence under investigation”. It was ordered that during the period of suspension, Wilfred be headquartered at the Personnel and Administrative Reforms Department in Kohima and that he not leave the headquarters without the Chief Secretary’s permission. The order also said that during this period, he would be entitled to a subsistence allowance “at an amount equal to leave pay he would have drawn if he had been on leave on half-average pay or half pay”.

According to Nagaland Police, the case against Wilfred began when the chairperson of the Nagaland State Women’s Commission, Ngineig Konyak, wrote to DGP Rupin Sharma that she had received “verbal intimation” of the allegations from IDAN chairman Abu Metha. Metha is the Advisor to the Nagaland Chief Minister and Secretary General of the Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP), which is in power in Nagaland in coalition with the BJP.

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Wilfred has denied these charges and told reporters that this was an attempt to force him to leave Nagaland. He had alleged that he had long been the target of “framing” by some unnamed top officials in the Nagaland government for not supporting a purported plan to overthrow the Nagaland government in 2016, and for acting against child trafficking in Noklak district.

He has been embroiled in a case in 2021, too, for the alleged sexual assault of two minor girls during his term as DC of Noklak district. That case is currently under trial in Tuensang.

© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd


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