Nashik/Mumbai: In the bustling corporate corridors of Nashik’s IT sector, what began as a single case of sexual harassment has triggered a cascade of allegations—from indecent behaviour to insult to religious sentiments and an alleged attempt at religious conversion. At the centre of it is one of India’s largest IT companies, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS).
The initial case was filed by a 23-year-old woman employee of the Nashik branch of TCS. In her complaint, she named three colleagues, accusing one of them, Danish Shaikh, of having sexual intercourse with her on the false pretext of marriage.
The woman met Shaikh for the first time in January 2022, when she was 19. They were in the same college, and became friends. Six months later, Shaikh allegedly took her to a local hillock, kissed her, and asked her to marry him. She didn’t immediately give an answer.
A year later, in 2023, after she completed her BSc (IT), Shaikh, by then an employee at TCS, encouraged her to apply at the company.
Cut to 26 March this year, the woman, now 23, filed an FIR against Shaikh and two other employees of TCS she had befriended through Shaikh—Tausif Attar and Nida Khan—accusing them of sexual harassment and hurting religious sentiments.
It was this FIR that prompted a series of similar complaints from TCS Nashik—nine to be precise—allegedly involving nine people, seven of whom figure in multiple complaints.
TCS has constituted an internal probe and Tata Sons Chairman N. Chandrasekaran has described the allegations as “gravely concerning”.
ThePrint accessed all nine complaints and found the multiple incidents cited to allege sexual harassment and hurt to religious sentiments. However, the complainants do not explicitly allege they were pressured to convert; only one complainant alleged he was forced to wear a skull cap, offer namaz and eat non-vegetarian food despite being a vegetarian.
The first FIR in the case, filed in March this year, alleges sexual intercourse on the false pretext of marriage, followed by threats and intimidation; while in other instances, women employees of TCS Nashik have complained about obscene comments and lewd gestures.
In some of the cases, the women employees had made verbal complaints, and in one case, an employee also made a written complaint against the accused.
A TCS statement Friday said, “While detailed reviews are still underway, a preliminary review of the systems and records pertaining to the Nashik unit indicates that we have not received any complaints of the nature that are being alleged, on either our ethics or POSH channels.”
The complainants are mostly from TCS departments dealing with making calls to credit card holders informing them about their pending bills. Seven of the complainants, all women, are between 23 and 25 years of age. One woman complainant is 36, while the only male complainant, who has made allegations of attempted religious coercion, is 35.
Of the nine accused, seven are men, while two—Nida Khan, a project associate at TCS, as per the suspension letter sent by the company to her—and Ashwini Chainani, the head of HR operations, are women. Chainani is alleged to have ignored complaints about the behaviour of the accused persons, backing them instead.
“One lady complainant has given a complaint of sexual harassment at the workplace, religious harassment at the workplace and rape under the pretext of giving a job and false promise of marriage, and Atrocities Act. Four cases have been registered by lady victims who have alleged sexual harassment at work place, three lady victims have come forward to allege both sexual harassment at work place and religious harassment at work place,” Nashik Commissioner of Police Sandeep Karnik told ThePrint.
He added, “The accused in this case are in important positions in the company as team leaders and in other positions. They have misused their authority or position and have sexually and religiously harassed coworkers and their juniors.”
This is something that the police have also cited at a local Nashik court while seeking custody of the accused. In the remand copies, Nashik Police have argued that the accused are in important positions in the company and can influence evidence and witnesses.
The lawyers of the accused maintain that the allegations of religious conversion are basically just a set of conversations where the accused made supposedly inappropriate comments about Hindu gods and goddesses, and propagated Islam.
Rahul Kasliwal, representing two accused persons—Raza Menon and Tausif Attar—both accused of sexual harassment and hurting religious sentiments, told ThePrint that there is no evidence of the alleged incidents. “The conduct of the victims is not in consonance with the allegations. Both victims and accused have been at the office for three years, but never raised a shout. They were simply in friendly adult relationships. They used to celebrate all festivals together. They also went to church last Christmas,” Kasliwal said.
Umesh Walzade, the advocate representing Danish Shaikh, claimed the case was being politicised.
“Let us not give it a colour, let politics not take advantage and blame these kids, saying they are converting people. As far as Danish is concerned I have gone through his entire sheet, he has passed in flying colours in his academic career, there is not a single complaint against him. He has a wife, two kids and an old mother to take care of. We have to see this as per the constitutional right of a person. If evidence comes, he will be convicted, otherwise he has to be acquitted,” Walzade told ThePrint.
Also read: No internal complaints, Nida Khan is neither HR manager nor in charge of hiring—TCS on Nashik case
The first complaint
The woman who filed the first complaint in March said that after she joined TCS as an associate in 2023, she became acquainted with Tausif Attar and Nida Khan through Danish Shaikh, and that they would spend time together outside the office.
“In August 2024, when Danish and I were roaming around on his bike, without telling me, he took me to a hotel Anand Resort, Trambak Road. After we reached the hotel, Danish forced me to have sexual relations with him,” the woman alleged.
“Tausif Attar found out about the sexual relations between me and Danish, and asked me to get sexually involved with him (as well) and threatened to tell my family otherwise,” the complainant added, alleging that Attar often tried to make sexual advances.
It was only in February 2026 that she found out from another person that Danish Shaikh was married with two children, she said.
The police have registered an FIR in this case under BNS sections 69 (sexual intercourse on false pretext of marriage), 75 (sexual harassment), 299 (deliberate and malicious acts intending to outrage religious feelings), and 3(5) (criminal liability for acts done by several persons in furtherance of a common intention).
Subsequently, the Scheduled Castes & Scheduled Tribes Prevention of Atrocities Act was also added to the case as the woman is from the SC community, Shaikh’s lawyer said.
However, according to him, it was a consensual relationship gone wrong.
“There was a mutual friendship which was converted into an extra-marital relationship. Danish has a wife and two kids and the lady was well aware. Despite this, there are a number of SMS and chats between Danish and the lady. The lady at times seems to be pursuing Danish. There was a quarrel between that lady and Danish’s wife also. Let the investigation be completed,” said Shaikh’s lawyer Walzade.
In her complaint, the 23-year-old victim has also spoken about how Attar, Shaikh and Khan would often talk to her about why Islam is better than Hinduism. The FIR does not say whether she tried to raise a complaint internally within TCS.
“Nida Khan, who was also with us, along with Tausif tried convincing me that the ‘Shivling’ is actually a male sexual organ and praying to it was obscene. Danish also told me that Krishna was a womaniser and that Draupadi was adulterous because she had five husbands and many other things that hurt religious sentiments,” the FIR said.
Following this FIR, the Nashik Police sent personnel to the TCS campus in plain clothes and more cases involving Attar, Shaikh and many others were ‘revealed’.
Nashik Commissioner of Police Sandeep Karnik said, “Initially when the first case had come to us, the victim was extremely afraid and the police had to counsel her. After that she registered a case, and after that some other people from the office came forward and said that similar things were happening with other women employees also.”
“We sent our DCP lady officers and our women cops, they went in plain clothes, interacted with the whole office and tried to counsel everyone that if anybody had a complaint they should be fearless and come forward, after which the other complainants came forward and FIRs were registered,” said Karnik.
Karnik had said Wednesday that the police were probing whether there were any extremist organisations or foreign hands involved in the case, and have written to agencies such as the anti-terrorism squad and the National Investigation Agency (NIA) for help.
Sandeep Mitke, ACP (Crime), Nashik Police said investigators are currently dealing with each case separately as there are too many FIRs under different sections of the BNS.
“We are not sweepingly calling it a conversion racket. There are different allegations in different complaints. We are probing all angles right now,” he told ThePrint Friday.
The Nashik Police in a statement Friday said a Special Investigation Team (SIT) has been formed under the leadership of ACP Sandeep Mitke.
The case of ‘conversion’
Thirty-five-year-old Krushna Mane, the only male complainant in the case, has been working with TCS since 2022 and is currently a senior associate dialler by designation.
In 2022, he worked with Danish Shaikh and Tausif Attar was their team leader.
A rudraksh-wearing devotee of Ramdas Swami, Mane said in his complaint to the police: “Because I was religious, Tausif and Danish would constantly have conversations about religion with me and ask if there really are any Gods in the Hindu religion. They would ask if I have seen God and that Allah is the only one across the world.”
The accused also allegedly insulted Hindu gods and Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj by calling him a “slave” of Muslims, Mane alleged.
The FIR goes on to add: “In 2023, Tausif had taken me to his house for Ramzan Eid. Against my wishes, he made me wear a skull cap and read the namaz. Once, Tausif and Danish took me out to eat and threatened me, and made me eat non-vegetarian food, despite knowing that I am a devotee of Sadguru and a pure vegetarian.”
He also claimed that the two had advised him to try black magic to take care of family issues. In March 2023, when Mane’s father was ill, Attar, Shaikh, and two other TCS employees, Shahrukh Shaikh and Raza Memon, allegedly advised him to convert to Islam.
“They told me that I am suffering in the Hindu religion, and I should convert to Islam, everything will be good with me then,” Mane’s complaint said.
In one other case too, Tausif Attar had made a suggestion about turning to a maulavi for help, but did not mention conversion.
Another complainant in this case, a 36-year-old team leader in TCS, had suffered a miscarriage. In February this year, Tausif, upon realising that she was childless, advised her to visit a maulavi in Ajmer.
“He said, once you go there you will definitely have a child. I found it embarrassing to discuss my personal life with him so I didn’t give him any reply at the time. But, he has tried to pursue the topic with me multiple times despite me not wanting to talk about it,” the woman said in the FIR.
‘Hurting religious sentiments’
Of the eight women who complained, at least four made allegations of sexual harassment as well as insult to their religious sentiments. Almost all of the accused except Ashwini Chainani are alleged to have made insulting remarks about Hinduism.
The first complainant also alleged that Tausif Attar, Danish Shaikh and Nida Khan would keep telling her that Islam was superior to Hinduism. Incidentally, this is the only FIR in which Nida Khan, who the prosecution claims is the mastermind, is named.
The Nashik Police in their statement said that while they are questioning her husband, Nida herself has been declared an absconder. Her lawyer has filed for anticipatory bail.
“During interrogation he (the husband) said Nida was with some relatives. When a police team went to the concerned relative’s house, it was locked,” the statement said.
Other complaints spoke of insults to Hindu gods. One woman said she was told, “Brahma was the rapist of his own daughter.” She also claimed she was told that Ram and Sita could not have survived in the forest without eating meat.
‘Lewd gestures, obscene comments’
All eight women have made allegations of lewd gestures, obscene comments, modesty being outraged, sexual harassment and stalking.
“Raza would look at me in a certain way when I would be alone, he would follow me and keep talking to me, and try to touch me in a way that was uncomfortable. I would get scared and leave,” one complainant alleged, adding that when she complained to her seniors, Raza told her colleagues that she was having an affair with someone else.
In another case, a complainant alleged that Raza Memon pulled her saree pallu and smiled at her in a “vulgar manner”.
Another complainant alleged: “Raza Memon called me repeatedly, made gestures, stared at me inappropriately, and behaved indecently. He signalled towards me with his hands and made uncomfortable gestures. His behaviour made me feel uneasy and disturbed. Despite ignoring him, he continued such actions.”
“In December 2024, when I was in office, Shafi Shaikh pulled a chair and sat next to me without reason. Under the pretext of helping me with my work, he started rubbing his feet against mine, and also touched my chest and arm. I immediately pulled my chair away, he smiled at me mischievously and left,” another complainant alleged.
As investigators work to untangle the web of allegations and narratives, what is clear is that the fallout extends far beyond individual complaints, raising uncomfortable questions on corporate accountability and law enforcement.
(Edited by Viny Mishra)
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