two-assam-pwd-officials-held-for-abetting-junior-s-suicide

Police in Assam have arrested two senior Public Works Department officials in connection with the alleged suicide of a woman assistant engineer who accused them of workplace harassment.

 

Authorities in Bongaigaon on Thursday arrested two senior officials of the Assam Public Works Department following the alleged suicide of a junior woman officer who had reportedly named them in a handwritten note recovered from her apartment.

 

The deceased, an assistant engineer from Guwahati posted in Bongaigaon, was found dead at her residence on Tuesday. The note discovered at the scene, now central to the police probe, reportedly accuses the two officers of subjecting her to intense workplace stress.

 

“We have arrested the two persons named in the suicide note. One is an executive engineer of the PWD and the other a sub-divisional officer,” Bongaigaon Senior Superintendent of Police Mohan Lal Meena said.

 

The SSP confirmed that both accused were earlier transferred out of Bongaigaon district in administrative changes carried out earlier this month. “While the executive engineer was promoted and posted in Nalbari district, the SDO was moved to Kamrup,” Meena added.

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The police said the officers have been placed in judicial custody, and authorities have secured permission to interrogate them further. Investigations into the circumstances leading to the suicide are ongoing, with the allegations in the note being treated with “serious consideration”, officials said.

 

Another official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said, “She said in the note that the two arrested officials put immense pressure on her regarding the construction of a mini stadium in Bongaigaon. She also alleged that they had forced her to pass inflated bills submitted by a contractor.”

 

Police sources said the complaint detailed coercion to clear dubious bills and meet unrealistic targets, leading to a deteriorating emotional state. The authenticity of the suicide note and the nature of directives issued to the assistant engineer are currently under forensic and administrative scrutiny.

 

The incident has cast a shadow over the functioning of the PWD in the region, prompting calls for a departmental inquiry. The government has yet to issue an official statement on the matter.