Differences among officials in the Endowments Department reached a new high on Thursday after Assistant Commissioner Santhi hurled fistfuls of sand at Deputy Commissioner V. Pushpavardhan at the latter’s chambers and swore at him.
The incident was caught on CCTV cameras installed in the office. Mr. Pushpavardhan was in the midst of discussions with three officials of the department on Thursday morning when Ms. Santhi barged into his chamber and hurled sand at his face and started swearing at him, alleging that Mr. Pushpavardhan was subjecting her to mental harassment.
Mr. Pushpavardhan was transferred here a month ago as in-charge Deputy Commissioner. He had suspended EO Srinivasa Raju of Yernimamba temple, following complaints of irregularities in the counting of Hundi collections. It was alleged that the Assistant Commissioner was miffed over the suspension of the EO.
Mr. Pushpavardhan said that he had assumed charge only about a month ago and has no differences with the Assistant Commissioner. He said he was clueless regarding what prompted Ms. Santhi to behave in such a manner and said that he would take the issue to the notice of the government and the police.
The Assistant Commissioner alleged that Mr. Pushpavardhan was harassing her mentally for the past one month and broke down before the media.
