Minister initiates probe against Bhagwan Sahai, ACS (agriculture) who allegedly denied Rajendra Ghadge permission to leave office to meet his depressed son
A senior IAS officer of the rank of additional chief secretary has been blamed for a suicide of his junior officer's 22-year-old son.
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Bhagwan Sahai.
Bhagwan Sahai, ACS (agriculture), is accused of denying joint-secretary Rajendra Ghadge permission to leave office early on August 11 when his son (name withheld) and wife asked him to reach their New Mumbai home immediately. The son was depressed and threatened to end his life, and hence wanted his father to have a talk with him urgently. But Sahai rejected Ghadge's request for leaving office early. "It's your personal problem, you solve it," the IAS officer is reported to have told his junior.
When a dejected Ghadge left office only after 5.30pm as instructed by Sahai, he got information that his son had committed suicide.
Anyhow the news reached agriculture minister Pandurang Fundkar, who talked with Ghadge over phone last night only to find how rude and unprofessional the IAS officer was to his junior. The minister has started departmental inquiry into it and also asked Chief Minister and Chief Secretary to expand the scope of inquiry from their end.
"I had been trying to reach out to Ghadge for the past four days, but the parents were so depressed that they refused to talk. I called Ghadge last night again and what he told me was shocking," Fundkar told mid-day on Thursday morning.
Mid-day had first asked Sahai about allegation in a text message on August 12, but he hasn't responded so far. We asked him Thursday again, but in vain.
On Thursday, the employees of Mantralaya protested against Sahai and sought action against him. They have sent a memorandum to the CM citing several complaints against Sahai, who they accuse of habitual ill-treatment to his juniors.
An agitated Fundkar said that such a behaviour was uncalled for by the head of the department . "I agree that there should be discipline in the functioning of any department, but there comes a situation when HoDs need to take a humane approach. Sahai has failed in doing this," said the minister.
He said Ghadge could have saved his son has he reached home early. "Apparently, the son was going through a bad patch and he needed his father by his side. The boy's mother too wanted her husband to come home as early as possible," said Fundkar.
Ghadge's friends told mid-day that the family was in a native place mourning the loss and they did not want to talk to media.
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