Joint Secretary rank officer claims 'frame up' in a case of attempt to sexual assault, SC orders stay

The Supreme Court has directed for a stay on the trial proceedings against a Joint Secretary rank senior official in the Delhi government in a case of attempt to sexual assault in Uttarakhand, as he claimed he was framed up due to conspiracy.

The officer, Ankem Venkat Prem Nath, whose hands are 100 per cent handicapped, is accused of attempting to sexually assault a minor girl in Uttarakhand's Almora in October 2022.

"Since the petition raises serious questions, issue notice to State of Uttarakhand returnable in four weeks," a bench of Justice V Ramasubramanian and Pankaj Mithal said.

The bench also noted the final report has been filed on November 30, 2022 and the charges are yet to be framed.

"Therefore, there shall be an interim stay of further proceedings," the bench ordered.

The petitioner, represented by senior advocate Dama Sheshadri Naidu, and advocate Raj Kishor Choudhary, contended that this was an extraordinary case of framing the 100 per cent disabled officer without both hands in the "fake and false attempt of molestation in Uttarakhand by influential and well connected promotee IPS officer and his business associates/accomplices against whom a three judge bench of this Court has ordered CBI/CVC investigation in a massive multi-crore bank loan fraud etc.

Seeking transfer of the probe to CBI or an agency outside the state, the officer said at the time when he was holding additional charge of Delhi Commission for Safai Karmacharis, some ad hoc staff defrauded several youth in the name of offering them jobs in Delhi police. Complaints were made against higher authorities in the matter, which enraged the accused who hatched conspiracy to use of a minor girl to lodge the case against him, he claimed.

The officer was arrested in the case on October 4 and granted bail by the Uttarakhand High Court on after 74 days, the counsel said.