The Mumbai Police have registered a case against venture capital investor Mahesh Murthy for sexual harassment based on a complaint from a woman in Delhi, the National Commission for Women said on Wednesday.
Senior Police Inspector Ramchandra Jadhav said that the FIR was registered at the Khar police station on December 30 following the commission’s intervention, according to The Hindu. “We will be summoning Murthy for inquiries,” Jadhav said. “Murthy has been charged with stalking and “outraging the modesty” of women under the Indian Penal Code and other relevant sections of the Information Technology Act.”
In November 2017, the National Commission for Women had written to the Maharashtra director general of police regarding Murthy’s use of “objectionable, derogatory, sexual remarks and obscene signs on social media” after a woman filed a complaint in Delhi.
It had also sent various media reports about other women who had made similar complaints, the panel had said. “Even though Murthy has allegedly already posted an apology for some of his posts, the NCW, in its letter to the Maharashtra DGP, requested for the DGP’s personal involvement,” the commission said in a press release. “Such acts not only amount to outraging the modesty of women but also attract action for cyber crime.”
In April 2017, several complaints of sexual harassment surfaced against the investor, with some dating back to the early 2000s. Murthy had also written a post in an attempt to justify himself.
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