Ex-AN chief secy misused position to destroy evidence in gangrape case: Chargesheet

Port Blair, February 18 (PTI) The chargesheet filed by the Special Investigation Team against former chief secretary of Andaman and Nicobar Islands Jitendra Narain in connection with gangrape of a 21-year-old woman has revealed that he misused his position to destroy evidence of her presence at his official residence last year.

During the interrogation of B Sony, the personal assistant to the former CS, it was found that the “accused Jitendra Narain had sent some voice notes to Sony through WhatsApp, which were found to be crucial evidence in this case regarding destruction of evidence, particularly Digital Video Recorder (DVR) at Narain’s official residence”.

The chargesheet also mentions about the removal of “Network Video Recorder”, which was installed at Narain’s plush government bunaglow in Port Blair and also of the dispatch of “4TB Hard Disk Drive” of the NVR to “Delhi” through a private airline on July 25, 2022.

Sony’s mobile phone was seized and sent to the Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL) for examination and date extraction. Later, it came to be known (based on Narain and Sony’s chats) that he had dispatched the “4TB Hard Disk Drive” to Delhi through the private airline.

Texts of the chats between Narain and Sony accessed by PTI reads: “GM Sir today 8 boxes by AI 486.”

Narain replied: “Ok cost.”

Responding to Narain, Sony said: “Rs 4757, 135 KG I.E. per kg Rs 35.24.”

After this conversation, there was a missed voice call.

Then, Sony texted again: “Sir gadgets cannot go in cargo.”

Narain responded: “Wires.”

Subsequently, Narain sent five voice notes to Sony on WhatsApp and then texted: “Plchk. (please check)”

Sony replied: “Sir will check and revert.”

The final note sent by Sony to Narain was a PDF file which read: “Sent – Cargo Bill AI 486 PB DEL 25.07.22.”

Speaking to PTI, the woman’s lawyer, Phatick Chandra Das, said, “In respect of the case of ex-chief secretary Jitendra Narain, the police has submitted the chargesheet before the honourable court, which I have perused as an advocate on behalf of the victim, and I have seen the detailed report of the SIT.

“It is based on proper evidence on records, and valuable material on these are available in the chargesheet. I appreciate the effort of the police. The matter is now fixed before High Court Circuit Bench in Port Blair of bail plea of Jitendra Narain on February 20. I will be appearing on behalf of the victim for opposing the bail plea.”

A copy of the chargesheet available with PTI also revealed that before leaving for Delhi (upon receiving his transfer letter) on July 27, 2020, Narain called the CCTV technician Sawab Hussain at his residence, and told him to delete/erase the data in the hard disk.

“Hussain told him that it will take considerable time to delete the data, following which Narain asked him to remove the hard disk from the installed NVR, and he removed the two 4TB hard disks and handed those over to Narain on July 23, 2022,” the chargesheet said.

“Jitendra Narain carried out this incident intending to destroy the evidence related to his wrongdoings, including the exploitation of innocent victim (which was corroborated with the documents obtained by APWD and Webstep Technologies Pvt Ltd) and statement of witnesses,” it said.

According to the chargesheet, investigation also revealed that whenever any lady “guests”, including the woman (who was allegedly sexually exploited on March 27 and April 27 last year by Narain) came to his bungalow in Port Blair, the cooks were confined to the kitchen and asked not to come out till they were told to, and the other staff and watchmen were directed to go to the electric room behind the house.

“Not the least, he also instructed the security guards not to make record entry of guests’ vehicles, and the guards were asked to keep the gates open prior to entry of certain guest’. Also, the staff were terrified with him due to his highly aggressive and abusive behaviour,” a witness report in the chargesheet showed.

“In March 2022, one day ex-CS Jitendra Narain directed R L Rishi (suspended Labour Commissioner and one of the accused in the case) over VoIP call through WhatsApp to bring one girl’ to his bungalow, and it was then Rishi approached Sandeep Singh alias Rinku (Port Blair-based businessman, also an accused) to convince the victim to fulfil Narain’s direction,” the document said.

The chargesheet, which was filed earlier this month, was based on the statements of nearly 90 witnesses, forensic science reports and electronic evidence, police had said.

The SIT is probing allegations that the 21-year-old woman was lured to the former chief secretary’s residence with the promise of a government job, and then allegedly raped by multiple people, including Narain.

Narain was arrested on November 10 last year, and the FIR registered on October 1 when he was posted as chairman and managing director of the Delhi Financial Corporation.

At present, all the three accused are in judicial custody.