Maharashtra's 'Lady Singham' shoots self, suicide note blames 'Sr forest officer

In a shocking incident a 28yearold female Range Forest Officer posted in the Melghat Tiger Reserve MRT in Amravati committed suicide after alleging sexual harassment and torture at the hands of an Indian Forest Service IFS officer in a purported suicide note officials said here on FridayThe young woman RFO Mrs Dipali ChavanMohite 28 shot herself at her official quarters in the Harisal village near the tiger reserve with her service revolver and succumbed on the spot late on Thursday Her bloodsplattered body with the gun was recovered later by relatives and colleaguesA tough nononsense officer famous as Lady Singham for her daredevilry against the forest mafias Dipalis husband Rajesh Mohite is working as a Treasury Officer in Chikhaldhara while her mother Shakuntala Chavan was in her native Satara when her daughter resorted to the extreme stepEarlier on Friday Dipalis family refused to take over her body for the last rites till the Amravati Police nabbed the accused named in her suicide note sending shockwaves in the forestry circles across the stateActing swiftly the Amravati Police went after the Deputy Conservator of Forests DCF Vinod Shivkumar who figured in Dipalis 4page suicide note with an earnest plea that strict action should be taken against him so that nobody else should suffer her ordealShivkumar IFS was detained at the Nagpur railway station when he was waiting to escape to Bengaluru and was arrested later this eveningAmong other things she has mentioned how Shivkumar abused his position harassed her sexually and inflicted mental trauma on her continuously since the past few monthsOn several occasions in the past Dipali had complained about Shivkumar to his senior MTR Field Director MS Reddy IFS who reportedly ignored her pleas and ostensibly sided with the accused DCFTaking serious cognisance the Forest Department handled by Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray late on Friday suspended Shivkumar and ordered Reddy to hand over charge to another officer pending his transfer as per an official notificationDipali had highlighted Shivkumars alcoholism using abusive or foul language at her in public and private making advances and dropping hints to get physicalHowever as she repeatedly rebuffed him she earned Shivkumars ire in the form of difficult assignments punishing work schedules abuses and once even holding back her salary for a monthMarried in 2020 and pregnant in earlyFebruary Shivkumar had compelled Dipali to accompany him on a gruelling 3day forest patrol walking or driving hundreds of kms ignoring her maternal condition a colleague close to her told IANS on condition of anonymityConsequently upon return from the forest ordeal she suffered a miscarriage and was in deep depression and recovered with the loving care of her singlemother Shakuntala Chavan who rushed to Amravati from Satara he addedLiving up to her honest and upright image around five years ago in her official vehicle Dipali displayed huge courage by chasing a gang of forest smugglers which was escaping by a train to Madhya PradeshAt the next station she intercepted the gang trying to smuggle out over five tonnes of a valuable jungle produce lac arrested them seized the consignment and brought them back to MaharashtraDreaded by local mafias out to steal forest produce or poach big and small animals Dipali was known to run after them often alone in remote areas when they would disappear in the thick forests said another friend Rohan BhateJoining the Maharashtra government service in 2013 she had taken up cudgels against illegal encroachments in the forests for which she faced the ire of local politicians or mafia who instigated such activities for their vested interests or pecuniary gains said BhateThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever