Mumbai: TCS Nashik case accused Nida Khan was allegedly involved in a plan to change a woman’s identity in order to convert her to Islam and send her abroad, the prosecution told a Nashik court while arguing for her custodial interrogation. The court rejected Khan’s anticipatory bail plea on Saturday, even as her counsel argued that she had been falsely implicated.
Special judge K.G. Joshi of the Additional Sessions Court, rejecting the plea, observed that “the magnitude of the offence is truly multi-dimensional and multi-layered”, and that granting anticipatory bail, “to some extent, would cause interference in the sphere of investigation of an offence”.
Khan, 26, an employee of Tata Consultancy Services’ Nashik office, has been absconding since the first FIR into alleged workplace harassment and conversion racket was registered at Deolali Camp Police Station on 26 March. The two other accused in the same case—Danish Shaikh and Tausif Attar—have been in custody since 27 March.
The case came to light in February, when a local political party worker approached Nashik police alleging that a Hindu woman working at the BPO was being influenced to convert her religion. Police then deployed constables as undercover staff at the TCS office, which, they said, uncovered the racket.
Nine FIRs were registered against eight employees of the BPO unit. The charges involved include sexual assault, coercion, and hurting of religious sentiments over a period spanning 2022 to 2026. Maharashtra Police subsequently formed a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the cases.
After the police cases, TCS announced that it was suspending all accused employees and had initiated an internal inquiry into the matter.
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‘Gave a burqa, religious literature’
District Government Prosecutor Ajay Misar and the investigating officer (IO) told the court Saturday the SIT 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 for the process were allegedly to be arranged through a “Malegaon party”, they alleged.
The prosecution also raised the possibility of probing an international syndicate, examining foreign funding and tracing potential money trail.
Misar argued that these details emerged during the SIT investigation and from statements recorded from the colleague’s family, making custodial interrogation necessary. He also contended that “an FIR is not an encyclopedia”, and that the scope of allegations can expand as evidence is gathered.
The IO told the court that Khan “along with both co-accused, attempted to coerce the victim into religious conversion by instilling fear in her and repeatedly offending her religious sentiments. The accused committed the aforementioned crime despite being fully aware that the victim belonged to a Scheduled Caste”.
The prosecution alleged that Khan maintained regular contact with the victim, visited her home, and provided religious instruction.
Khan is accused of giving the victim a burqa—since seized—and sharing religious literature, including the life story of Prophet Paigambar and the book The Holy Life of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), both of which have also been seized by police.
Khan allegedly installed applications related to religious teachings on the victim’s phone, circulated videos and links containing religious content, and asked the victim to observe Ramzan, the prosecution told the court. Electronic devices have been sent for forensic examination, it said.
The prosecution further alleged that Khan attempted to convert the victim’s family members as well, using threats and her dominant position in the office to do so. “She also asked the victim to observe the fast of Ramadan. The accused, including the applicant (Khan), tried to change the victim’s name, and some city and country names were revealed during the investigation. Foreign funding and the money trail need to be investigated,” Misar argued.
The investigating officer said that Khan, Shaikh, and Attar “had provided a burqa to the victim to facilitate her religious conversion. This burqa has since been seized. The book containing information regarding the Muslim faith, titled ‘The Holy Life of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH),’ which was handed over to the victim by Accused No. 1, has also been seized.”
Advocate M.G. Kurkute, appearing for the colleague, argued that she was “brainwashed by Danish Shaikh and Nida Khan who were in conspiracy”. Kurkute requested rejection of Khan’s bail plea on the grounds that the “accused, including the applicant, also humiliated the victim in the office regarding her caste, saying that her caste is lower in her religion”.
‘Falsely implicated, inconsistencies’
Khan had sought anticipatory bail on 20 April. Her counsel Rahul Kasliwal argued she had been falsely implicated, and that key allegations of sexual harassment were directed at the co-accused.
Kasliwal told the court there were inconsistencies between the FIR and subsequent statements. He also cited Khan’s three-month pregnancy and sought interim relief on that ground—a plea that the court rejected.
The defence contended that at most, the allegations against Khan pertained to hurting religious sentiments, which were bailable, and that no material existed to show caste-based insult in a public setting sufficient to invoke the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention Of Atrocities) Act, which was added to the case later.
“There are no allegations of conversion of religion in the FIR, only the allegations regarding hurt to religious sentiments. There is no central act regarding the conversion of religion, only in Uttar Pradesh and Karnataka have enacted the law, but such is not the case in Maharashtra,” Kasliwal argued.
The investigating officer, in outlining the broader case, stated 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 with Shaikh at the workplace.
In its order, the court found that the material on record prima facie indicated Khan’s involvement in offences related to hurting religious sentiments and provisions of the SC/ST Act.
“The alleged offence seems to be a systematic plan of brainwashing of the victim with organised attempts. Considering the applicant’s involvement along with the other accused and the magnitude of the offense, custodial interrogation is necessary to go to the root of the case,” Special Judge Joshi ruled.
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