2 customs officials suspended for alleged sexual assault on Uzbek

New Delhi: Two senior customs officials posted at Delhi airport have been suspended for allegedly sexually assaulting a woman from Uzbekistan who was visiting India for medical treatment of a relative, officials said.

The matter came to light last month when a complaint was lodged by a whistleblower to senior officials at the airport who then started the probe.

Meanwhile, a pseudonymous complaint was also emailed to the office of Revenue Secretary Ajay Bhushan Pandey informing him about the incident.

The complainant, citing a brief detail of the case, requested the Revenue Secretary that the matter be looked into with utmost priority.

The top officer in the revenue department was also requested to bring the culprit to justice to set an example for before other public servants, who the complaint described as "wolves in the skin of sheep".

The copy of the complaint was then forwarded to the officer concerned in the CBIC, the top policy-making body for the customs department. Two Superintendents of customs officials posted at the airport were then suspended by the authorities for their alleged involvement in the sexual assault, the officials said.

Giving details of the case, they said that one of the accused officials stopped the Uzbek woman upon her arrival from Tashkent on May 3, for checking her baggage for any suspected smuggled goods.

He then took her to a room, which has no CCTV camera, and spent about half an hour there without being accompanied by any women officer, they said.