IT firm chief accuses staffer of abuse, extortion

A 39-year-old woman president of an IT firm has filed a complaint of sexual harassment and extortion against her assistant manager who is accused of lacing her juice with sedatives before taking pictures and videos with her in a compromising position.

The accused Suhas (32), is a resident of JP Nagar. The complaint said he managed to extort Rs 1.5 crore from the woman blackmailing her with her pictures and videos, which he threatened to release on social media.

The JP Nagar police are yet to arrest Suhas who is absconding.

According to the police, the woman is the president of the company while her husband is the vice-president. In May 2016, the company hired Suhas as an assistant manager.

On July 19, 2016, the company organised the president’s birthday. Suhas approached her and told her that it was also his mother’s birthday and engaged in sweet talk with her.

He impressed her with his talk and expressed his desire to work under her.

Meanwhile, he also found out that the woman was going through a troubled marriage and offered her support whenever she was dejected.

In her complaint to the police, the woman said on March 17, 2017, Suhas invited her for lunch at his house in JP Nagar. Suhas offered her a juice laced with sedatives. After consuming it, she became unconscious.

Suhas meanwhile clicked photographs and shot videos of her in compromising positions and later started extorting money from her. He managed to extort Rs 1.5 crore from her after which she started ignoring him.

Rs 10L demand

In June this year, Suhas called up the woman and demanded Rs 10 lakh and threatened to not only release her private pictures and videos on social media but also kidnap her children and splash acid on her.

Unable to bear the harassment, the woman approached the JP Nagar police. The police booked Suhas under IPC section 384-extortion, 354-c-voyeurism, 420-cheating, 504-intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace and 506-criminal intimidation.