An official of the Odisha forest department who is on training in the US was taken into custody by police in Pennsylvania for allegedly wrongfully confining a woman, an official said here Thursday.
Surendra Prasad Mohapatra, 53, a 1986 batch Indian Forest Service officer, was accused of wrongfully confining a woman in the hotel where he was staying, Odisha Principal Chief Conservator of Forest P.N. Padhi told IANS, citing preliminary information received by the government.
Mohapatra, presently posted as the regional chief conservator of forest at the district headquarters town of Sambalpur, about 320 km from here, was part of a group of officers from India which went to the US for mid-career training, he said.
Padhi said the state government was in touch with the Indian embassy in Washington and the authorities in New Delhi regarding the further course of action.
“Officially, we have not received any written communication from the central government yet. However, I have been informed over phone that a complaint was filed against the officer by a woman and he has been taken into police custody,” Padhi added.
Mohapatra’s wife Srima said in Bhubaneswar that her husband had some trouble with the internet connection in the hotel in the US. The woman, who complained against him, was sent by the hotel officials to sort it out which she could not. Police took her husband into custody after the woman lodged a complaint, she told a television channel.