Maumbai: Over a month after her name figured in an FIR related to ‘forced religious conversion’, suspended TCS employee Nida Khan was arrested in Maharashtra’s Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar on Thursday night.
She was taken to Nashik and will be produced before a magistrate on Friday. A special Nashik court had rejected her anticipatory bail on 2 May.
The 26-year-old was accused of hurting the religious sentiments of the victim, who filed the first FIR in the case involving alleged sexual harassment and religious coercion of nine victims by eight fellow employees at the TCS Nashik office. She was also accused of attempting to influence the victim to adopt Islam.
Along with her, two more accused–Danish Shaikh and Tausif Attar–were also named in the first FIR, which was filed 26 March.
It was alleged that Shaikh subjected the victim to sexual assault under the false pretext of marriage, while Attar molested her by repeatedly demanding sexual favours and threatening to disclose to her family that she had engaged in physical relations at the workplace.
The three accused were later also charged under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act as the complainant came from a Scheduled Caste community.
After nine FIRs were filed at two police stations in Nashik and a Special Investigation Team (SIT) was formed to investigate the alleged crimes, TCS announced that it was suspending all accused employees and had initiated an internal inquiry into the matter.
Sandeep Mitke, Assistant Commissioner of Nashik Police and head of the SIT, did not respond to ThePrint’s calls and messages regarding the arrest.
After she was repeatedly mentioned as HR manager of the Nashik unit, TCS CEO K. Krithivasan said in a statement on 17 April that Nida Khan served as a process associate at the TCS Nashik office and did not hold any leadership responsibilities.
On 20 April, advocate Rahul J. Kasliwal appealed for Khan’s anticipatory bail at a sessions court in Nashik. Kasliwal argued that Khan was three months pregnant and was being falsely implicated, even as the key allegations were directed towards the other two accused.
Her interim bail was denied instantly while the hearing for her anticipatory bail continued.
On 2 May, special judge K.G. Joshi of the Additional Sessions Court denied anticipatory bail on the grounds that it “would cause interference in the sphere of investigation of an offence.”
During the hearing, Ajay Misar, the District Government Prosecutor and Investigating Officer (IO), informed the court that the probe had uncovered a conspiracy to change a colleague’s name and arrange her travel to Malaysia, where a person identified as ‘Imran’ was to receive her.
Documents, the IO alleged, for the process were allegedly to be arranged through a “Malegaon party.”
The prosecution also raised the possibility of probing an international syndicate, examining foreign funding and tracing a potential money trail. Khan, according to the prosecution, made several attempts to persuade the victim to convert to Islam, as well as gave a burqa and shared religious literature, all of which have been seized.
Khan allegedly installed applications related to religious teachings on the victim’s phone and circulated videos and links containing religious content. She asked the victim to observe Ramzan, the prosecution told the court.
(Edited by Tony Rai)