A former secretary to Glendale Heights Village President Chodri Khokhar is suing him, contending he violated her civil rights by asking her to do tasks she contends were unethical and illegal.
Jasjeet Sangha is also suing the village, saying it should have done something to protect her when she complained she was being harassed by village trustees and discriminated against because of her race.
The suit was filed last Thursday, Aug. 8, in federal court.
Khokhar said Tuesday he would not comment about the lawsuit until he consults with his attorney.
Sangha says in the suit that when she was hired as executive secretary in May 2022, she “unwittingly found herself thrust into the epicenter of a deeply antagonistic and dysfunctional political environment that far exceeded normal partisan disagreements.”
The suit says Sangha was subjected to hostile behavior by trustees Mohammed Siddiqi and Chester Pojack, who oppose Khokhar. She says Siddiqi “vilified” her by repeatedly saying she was hired because she was related to Khokhar when she was not. The suit also said that when Siddiqi learned that she spoke Punjabi, which Khokhar also speaks, Siddiqi told her it was “a language of the uneducated.”
The suit does not name Siddiqi or Pojack as defendants.
Siddiqi and Khokhar are Pakistani.
Sangha is of Indian descent, according to the lawsuit.
Siddiqi said, in an email Tuesday night, that Sangha falsely accused him and Pojack. He said the village hired an independent investigator to look in to her allegations, and that the investigator determined he and Pojack were “not guilty.”
The lawsuit said Khokhar asked her to make campaign fliers and other materials for trustee candidates he supported in the 2023 election on village time, and that she refused. It also said he asked her to suspend the business license of political rival Mike Ontiveros, who had run against Khokhar for president and is a vocal critic.
When she refused, Khokhar turned on her, telling the acting village administrator to fire her. He berated her, the lawsuit said, and began removing her job duties and not giving her information needed for her job after he learned she had spoken to investigators after Khokhar was indicted in 2023 on felony charges of disorderly conduct.
Chodri Ma Khokhar
Khokhar was elected in 2021. He and Siddiqi have clashed ever since. DuPage County prosecutors say Khokhar filed false police reports saying that Siddiqi had threatened to bite him during an encounter in spring 2023 at the village hall. Sangha’s suit said she was a witness to the incident, and he became upset with her after learning investigators had interviewed her.
It also says that Khokhar told her in October 2023 to illegally delay responding to a records request from Siddiqi. Sangha refused. Then, she transferred to a lower-paying job with the police department, the lawsuit says.
The lawsuit seeks an unspecified amount of damages, including lost back and front pay.