A 60-year-old woman in Chennai has accused Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad National President Dr Subbiah Shanmugam of harassment, including urinating at her doorstep, throwing used face masks and garbage, after a disagreement over parking slots at a housing society in Nanganallur area, The News Minute reported on Saturday.
According to her family, the woman had asked Shanmugam to pay a fee of Rs 1,500 a month in January for using her parking space. On July 11, the family went to Adambakkam police station to file a complaint along with the CCTV footage that purportedly shows the ABVP leader throwing garbage and urinating at her door.
The woman’s nephew, Balaji Vijayaraghavan, said the police have not filed a first information report in the matter yet. The police gave a Community Service Register receipt on July 18. “I believe that his political ties are stopping the police from looking into this case further,” he told the website. “I have gone to the station multiple times since the complaint was filed and there has been no action. My aunt has found wet newspapers, used masks and all sorts of muck on her door. Our signboard in the parking space was vandalised as well. But in order to ensure there is proof, we installed a CCTV camera...”
Shanmugam, who is also a surgical oncologist at the Kilpauk Medical College, has denied the allegations and claimed that the CCTV footage was doctored. “That is not me,” he added. “Someone is manipulating the situation. This is a social media trial. I never put any waste on their door or harassed my neighbour in any way.”
He admitted that he temporarily used the woman’s parking space, but found another area later.
The ABVP, the student wing of the BJP, has threatened legal action on the “libelous” claims of the woman’s family. In a statement, ABVP National General Secretary Nidhi Tripathi called the allegations “malicious and a derogatory propaganda” against Shanmugam.
“There was indeed an issue of parking slots at the residential society between two families owing to lack of communication between them,” she added. “It includes the Dr Subbiah family on one side. Now the two families have thoroughly discussed the issue and are coming to a resolution without any ill will against each other.”
Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam MP Kanimozhi has sought Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswami’s intervention in the case. “The fact that police have failed to act on the complaint made on 11th July to till date is more shocking,” she tweeted. “This has become a routine on the part of the police to turn a blind eye on complaints against right wing members.”
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