The Odisha government has removed DG-rank IPS officer Susanta Kumar Nath from his post as director general of prisons after police registered a sexual harassment case against him and an alleged associate on the complaint of a former woman jailer.
The Cuttack Urban Police District registered the case on Saturday against Nath, 59, a 1993-batch officer, and Kuldeep Rath. The complaint alleges that Rath contacted the former jailer on Nath’s behalf in July 2025 and sent messages in August and September inviting her to meet the IPS officer for dinner at two hotels in Cuttack.
According to the FIR, a copy of which was reviewed by the Times of India, the complainant said she declined the invitations. She alleged that Rath conveyed Nath’s desire to meet her alone at hotels, describing the conduct as unwelcome sexual advances. The allegations have not been tested in court, and efforts to contact Nath and Rath for comment were unsuccessful.
The former jailer further alleged that Nath targeted her after she rejected the requests and suspended her in February 2026. She linked the suspension to an earlier complaint she had filed against former Choudwar jail superintendent Sujit Raula. That complaint concerned the alleged forging of her signature and an allegation that she was blamed for security lapses connected to the escape of two murder accused from the jail in October 2025.
After the case was registered, police informed the Odisha Home Department about the allegations. The state government shifted Nath from the prisons post and appointed him officer on special duty in the Home Department. The government said the move was intended to facilitate a fair and impartial investigation.
“Let the police investigate and ascertain the facts,” a Home Department official was quoted as saying. A police officer said investigators would examine both Nath and Rath as part of the probe. The police have not disclosed a conclusion on the allegations.
The case also affects the selection process for Odisha’s next director general of police. Nath was among 11 senior IPS officers whose names were forwarded by the state government to the Union Public Service Commission in May for consideration as successor to former DGP Y B Khurania, who retired in August. The state later withdrew Nath’s name after the Central Bureau of Investigation indicated that he might need to be questioned in connection with the sub-inspector recruitment test scam.
Nath subsequently approached the Supreme Court, alleging that the state government had acted arbitrarily by withdrawing his integrity certificate and excluding him from consideration despite there being no proven allegations of wrongdoing against him. The latest police case adds another institutional issue to the pending questions around his eligibility for the state’s top police post.
The police investigation into the sexual harassment complaint is now expected to examine the communications, the alleged meetings sought by Rath and the circumstances surrounding the former jailer’s suspension. The state has said the investigation will determine the facts.
