Odisha Police have registered a criminal case against Director General of Prisons and Correctional Services Sushant Kumar Nath, IPS, following a complaint by former Choudwar Circle Jailor Santoshini Dash, who has alleged sexual harassment, criminal intimidation and retaliation after she declined invitations to meet him privately.
Dash submitted a written complaint at Choudwar Police Station on October 31, 2026. Based on her complaint, police registered Choudwar PS Case No. 713 under Sections 75(2), 351(2) and 3(5) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).
Inspector Bikash Sethi, Inspector-in-Charge of Choudwar Police Station, is investigating the case.
Former jailor alleges private meeting requests
According to Dash’s complaint, the alleged sequence began after a jail inspection in mid-2025.
She alleged that Kuldeep Ratha, whom she was introduced to as an associate or friend of the DGP, obtained her mobile number and later sent her messages containing suggestive emojis.
Ratha allegedly invited Dash to dinner on two occasions. The first invitation was for a restaurant named “Blast” on August 29, 2025. The second was for Hotel Pramod on September 25/26, 2025.
Dash alleged that on both occasions, Ratha told her that the DGP wanted to meet her privately.
She said she declined the invitations and told Ratha that she would meet her superior officer only in an official office setting.
Alleged retaliation after refusal
Dash has alleged that several adverse administrative actions followed her refusal.
These included her suspension on February 19, 2026, stoppage of her salary and subsistence allowance, and the initiation of five departmental proceedings, according to her complaint.
She further alleged that during meetings on September 7 and 8, 2026, Nath told her: “If you had come to meet me, you wouldn’t have faced all these.”
The statement, according to Dash, suggested that the administrative action against her was connected to her refusal to meet him privately.
Complaint also alleges pressure over earlier FIR
Dash’s complaint also refers to an earlier FIR, numbered 35/2025, which she had filed against then Senior Superintendent Sujit Kumar Raula.
She alleged that the FIR concerned the alleged forging of her signature and tampering with official records linked to a jailbreak incident.
According to her complaint, Nath later pressured her to withdraw the FIR. Dash alleged that when she refused, she was threatened with termination from service, reversion to a lower rank and physical harm.
These allegations are part of the complaint and are yet to be established through investigation.
Subsistence allowance dispute
Dash also alleged that the stoppage of her subsistence allowance caused serious financial difficulties for her and her two minor daughters.
According to the complaint, the allowance was restored in August 2026 after intervention by the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights.
Police investigation underway
Following registration of the case, the Deputy Commissioner of Police, Kataka, formally intimated the Additional Chief Secretary, Home Department, and the Commissioner of Police, Bhubaneswar-Kataka. A copy of Dash’s complaint was enclosed with the communication for necessary action.
The complaint also referred to the Supreme Court’s Lalita Kumari judgment concerning the registration of an FIR when information discloses a cognizable offence.
The allegations against Nath and Ratha remain under investigation. No response from the accused persons was available in the documents on the basis of which the case was registered.
The case has brought renewed attention to workplace safety, the treatment of women officers and mechanisms for addressing complaints involving senior officials in sensitive government departments. Further action will depend on the findings of the ongoing investigation.
