Forest official arrested over death of woman colleague

The young woman RFO, Dipali Chavan-Mohite, 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 March 25. Chavan, in a suicide note, had alleged sexual harassment and torture at the hands of an Indian Forest Service (IFS) officer Vinod Shivakumar.

Amravati: An Indian Forest Service (IFS) official was arrested at Nagpur police station for abetting the suicide of a female colleague in Amravati, Maharashtra. Deepali Chavan, a range officer at the Melghat tiger, had committed suicide after alleging sexual harassment and torture at the hands of an Indian Forest Service (IFS) officer Vinod Shivakumar.

The young woman RFO, Dipali Chavan-Mohite, 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 March 25.

The case

Deepali Chavan, originally hailing from Satara, joined the forest department in 2014 through a selection by MPSC. She was first posted at Dhulghat Railway as a range forest officer and later transferred to Harisal in 2019. She had been entrusted with the responsibility of rehabilitation of several villages situated under the Harisal forest range.

Despite an inadequate staff of forest guards and labourers, she successfully rehabilitated Mangiya village. The tribals in the area tried to confine her. When she informed Deputy Conservator of Forests (DCF) Vinod Shivkumar about the incident, he did not come to her rescue. On the contrary, he charged her with lying. When a case of atrocity was registered against her on the complaint of tribals, instead of helping, Shivkumar humiliated her. In addition, Deepali Chavan has levelled several serious charges against Shivkumar.

According to the suicide note, he used to call her anytime in the night on patrol and pass lewd comments. He used to call her at camp and try to take advantage of her loneliness. Deepali in her detailed suicide note has further alleged that Vinod Shivkumar always used to humiliate her at Harisal in full public view because she did not respond to his ill-intended advances. Even her salary was withheld and she was being extremely harassed. Deepali writes, "when I was pregnant, Shivkumar even denied me permission to visit Amravati at my in-laws' house."

Had complained to MP Navneet Rana

Deepali Chavan while continuing her miserable saga has written that she was sent to a rocky area when she was pregnant causing her miscarriage. She had also told her sad story to Navneet Rana, MP from Amravati.

'Sir, he has full protection from you'

Deepali Chavan has also alleged chief Conservator of forest Srinivas Reddy of fully patronizing Vinod Shivkumar and expressed regret that he would not take any action against Shivkumar.

Case of abetment to suicide registered against Vinod Shivkumar

As Deepali Chavan has held DCF Vinod Shivkumar responsible for her death, he has been booked for abetment to suicide in Dharni police station.

These are my last words: message to mother

Before taking the extreme step, Deepali called her mother who was returning from Jalgaon. Deepali said these are my last words and she cut the phone. Her mother was shocked and she contacted forest employees working in the Harisal office. Then she was informed about the unfortunate suicide of her daughter. Deepali also made the last call to her husband working in the Chikhaldara treasury and uttered the same words. Before leaving the office, she also made a final goodbye to her colleagues.

Colleagues broke doors of Deepali’s house

When Deepali left the office, her colleagues felt something was wrong and they immediately went to her house which is in the premises of the office. As they did not get any response after repeated calls, the colleagues broke the door of the house and were shocked to see the dead body of Deepali lying in a pool of blood. As police recovered her suicide note, Vinod Shivkumar has been arrested now.