Puducherry official suspended, booked for obscene video

A senior Puducherry Civil Service (PCS) officer has been suspended and booked under the Information Technology Act for allegedly posting an obscene video clip in a Whatsapp group of government officials.

Lt Governor Kiran Bedi, the appointing authority of PCS officers in the Union Territory, yesterday issued the order suspending Registrar of Cooperative Societies A S Sivakumar with immediate effect, a Raj Nivas official said on Saturday. In a related development, police registered a case against the officer under the IT Act's Section 67-A (punishment for publishing in electronic form, any material which is lascivious or appeals to the prurient interest).

The case was registered on the basis of a complaint received from the Officer on Special Duty at the Raj Nivas, Senior Superintendent of Police V J Chandran (Crime and Investigation Wing) said. "We will investigate the matter in the wake of registering the case now under the Act," he said.

Sivakumar, also the Director of the Information Technology Department here, is a member of the Whatsapp group of various government department heads.