Gaurav Dahiya is facing charges of bigamy, cheating and breach of trust levelled against him by a Delhi-based woman. (File) Gaurav Dahiya is facing charges of bigamy, cheating and breach of trust levelled against him by a Delhi-based woman. (File)

The Gujarat government on Wednesday suspended Gaurav Dahiya, a Gujarat cadre IAS officer of the 2010 batch, who has been facing charges of bigamy, fraud and criminal intimidation, levelled by a Delhi-based woman.

The move to suspend Dahiya comes after the state government constituted a five-member inquiry committee headed by Sunaina Tomar, IAS officer and Principal Secretary Ports and Transport department. Placing Dahiya “under suspension with immediate effect”, an order from the General Administrative Department of the state government said, “Whereas disciplinary proceedings against Dr Gaurav Dahiya, IAS (RR;GUJ:2010) are contemplated for serious charges of misconduct and moral turpitude.”

While suspending the IAS officer, the government cited a clause of the All Indian Services (Discipline and Appeal) Rules, 1969, that states that a member of the service serving under the government can be placed under suspension if the state government “is satisfied that it is necessary or desirable to place under suspension a member of the service against whom disciplinary proceedings are contemplated or are pending”.

The order from the GAD also stated that Dahiya will be “entitled to receive a substance allowance at an amount equal to leave salary which he would have drawn if he had been on leave on half-average pay or on half day and in addition dearness allowance if admissible on the basis of such leave salary”.

On the inquiry conducted against the IAS officer, Sunaina Tomar told The Indian Express, “It was a confidential inquiry given to me and a confidential report has been submitted to the General Administrative Department (GAD). I will not be able to talk about its contents.” The inquiry panel submitted the report to GAD after 10 days of probe.

Dahiya appeared multiple times before the panel and defended himself saying that he was falsely framed by the woman. The Gandhinagar police that received a complaint from the Delhi-based woman is also conducting a separate inquiry.

On July 17, the sector 7 police station, Gandhinagar, received a complaint forwarded by the Women Cell of Delhi Police against IAS officer Dr Gaurav Dahiya in which a Delhi-based woman accused him of bigamy, fraud and criminal intimidation. On July 11, the woman submitted a written complaint to the Women’s Cell of Delhi Police, stating that Dr Dahiya married her on February 23, 2018 at the Tirupati Balaji Temple after contacting her on social media.

She further said that Dahiya contacted her through social media in 2007 when he was in Mexico and told her that he had filed a divorce petition to annul his first marriage. The complainant stated that after marrying Dahiya, she realised that he was still married to the first woman and that he threatened her of dire consequences if she approached the police.

On July 20, Gandhinagar Police also received a complaint from Dahiya who alleged that the woman has been harassing him by making several fake accounts on Facebook and Instagram and he denied all the allegations made by the woman. The Gujarat Police is yet to file a first information report (FIR) against any of the parties yet. On August 13, police sent a forth notice to Dahiya asking him to be appear before the investigating officer and give an explanation regarding the complaint against him and his side of the story.

“The forth notice has given time till tomorrow evening (August 15) to Dr Dahiya failing which, we will decide as per procedure. We may proceed with the complaint of the lady or give further time to Dahiya for his appearance,” said Mayur Chavda, superintendent of police Gandhinagar.

After a complaint was received by the police on July 17, Dahiya who was Mission Director, National Health Mission, was transferred by the Gujarat government and appointed as Joint Secretary, General Administration Department (Planning). “Orders regarding the fixing of headquarters of Dr Gaurav Dahiya during the period of suspension will be issued separately,” the state government’s order on Wednesday added.

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