COIMBATORE: A video purportedly showing the chairman of a private college making sexual advances to a 23-year-old female staff surfacing on social media has kicked up quite a controversy on Wednesday. The video seems to have been recorded by the staff in question on her mobile phone. Though this was used as evidence and a complaint was filed at the Thudiyalur All Woman Police station on Monday night, she then withdrew the complaint on Tuesday morning, said police. On the other hand, police sources also said that the girl’s boyfriend had arranged for the video to blackmail the chairman for money.
A day after the complaint was withdrawn, the same video has gone viral on social media. Following this, as many as 300 students protested in front of the college near Saravanampatty, demanding that police take action against the chairman. While police rushed to the spot and assured to take action, the superintendent of police R Pandiarajan clarified that they can proceed only if they received a written complaint from the victim. “We would have filed an FIR the same night she filed a complaint. However, the next day, she came back and told us that it was a false complaint and sought no action on her complaint,” police said.
Meanwhile, taking stock of the matter, collector T N Hariharan has asked the SP to look into the matter.
Now, Coimbatore Rural Police were exploring the legal possibilities of proceeding without a complaint.
Highly placed sources in the Rural Police told Express that there was a plot to blackmail the chairman for money behind the complaint. The girl’s boyfriend had been aware of the chairman’s advances and arranged for the video to extort money from him. It was when negotiations failed that they lodged a complaint with the police (and withdrew it) and selectively leaked the video, they said.
While police were looking into the possibilities of booking the chairman, they were also looking into the people trying to use the police and other agencies as a tool for their vested interests, they added.
When asked about this, a functionary from the college management denied the claims and said that the video was fabricated. “People with the vested interest have fabricated it; we will inquire into it and move forward for a legal action,” the functionary said.