Chennai, Jul 15 (IANS): The Commissioner of Goods and Sales Tax, Chennai Zone, Ravi Selvan has been suspended from service following a sexual harassment charge lodged by a woman colleague against him.

The Chief Vigilance Commissioner of the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) ordered his suspension after the report of an internal complaints committee report was submitted on Wednesday. The suspension was effected from Wednesday, July 13 onwards.

The GST, Chennai Zone will now be under the GST, Kolkotta Zone during the suspension period. The woman, according to sources in the GST, filed the complaint on May 24 and reported that she was sexually harassed at the Customs House in December 2021.

Selvan has however denied the allegations and in his letter to the CBDT Chairman, he denied all allegations and said that he was being framed with mala fide intentions. He also charged that the woman officer had never worked under him and that she had lodged the allegation to evade a departmental action in an official matter.