Officer says Shastri Bhawan plunge was due to workplace harassment, not monkey scare

A CSS official claims he attempted suicide due to workplace harassment, contradicting police's initial report of a monkey-related fall.

Two days after a Central Secretariat Service (CSS) official plunged from the seventh floor of Shastri Bhawan, a fresh twist has emerged. The 33-year-old, posted with the Union ministry of social justice and empowerment, has apparently now told investigators that the incident was a suicide attempt driven by workplace harassment -- contradicting the police’s earlier story that he fell while fleeing a monkey attack.

Officer says Shastri Bhawan plunge was due to workplace harassment, not monkey scare

In a police complaint August 29 seen by HT, the section officer alleged sustained humiliation by senior colleagues, and said that it left him “disturbed”.

“I am employed as a section officer in the Union ministry of social justice and empowerment. I have been working in this ministry for the last nine years. For the past several months, I have been harassed and humiliated again and again by senior officers [additional secretary and deputy secretary] regarding office work,” he wrote in his complaint.

“Today, they threatened to take legal action against me. I was very stressed about this matter. I was talking to my family on the phone about it. While talking, I reached the seventh floor of Shastri Bhawan… My wife tried to dissuade me but at that time I could not understand anything. I was feeling very disturbed and I jumped out of the window,” the complaint states.

He added in the complaint that he landed on a tempo filled with water bottles, injuring his arm, before colleagues rushed him to RML Hospital. The official urged police to take legal action against those he named in the complaint.

The revelation, meanwhile, has contradicted the version of events given by Delhi Police two days ago. In it, Delhi Police said the officer appeared to have slipped while evading a monkey. That account, officials now admit, was based on his medico-legal certificate (MLC).

Deputy commissioner of police (New Delhi) Devesh Kumar Mahla clarified, “On Monday, we gave a statement on the basis of the official’s own statement in his MLC. Now, he has stated other reasons. We are probing the matter.”

HT has not seen a copy of the MLC prepared at RML Hospital, and thus could not independently verify it.

Police have launched inquest proceedings but have yet to act on the officer’s formal complaint.

A senior investigator, who asked not to be identified, said the officer later confided that he had been under severe work pressure. “He said he was constantly harassed and was also given a low rating by his seniors in his annual performance review,” the officer said.