CHHATRAPATI SAMBHAJINAGAR: Maharashtra minister Sanjay Shirsat on Friday said AIMIM's state unit chief Imtiaz Jaleel has been named as a prime accused in the alleged sexual harassment and religious conversion case at Nashik TCS, facing allegations of harbouring key accused Nida Khan.
Addressing a press conference, Shirsat, a Shiv Sena leader, claimed that Jaleel will have to go to jail as his voice samples collected by the investigators were matching.
''Imtiaz Jaleel is a prime accused in this case. He has been booked by the (Nashik) police. He will have to go to jail. The government has taken the matter seriously and the police are investigating the case in the similar manner. Jaleel's call records and voice samples are matching...," he said.
Referring to the arrest of AIMIM corporator Matin Patel from Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar on the charge of harbouring Nida Khan, Shirsat claimed, "The party corporator was merely a pawn...It has not happened in just a single day. Nida Khan stayed here for 35 days with relatives. Everything happened on Jaleel's orders."
Responding to the allegations, Jaleel admitted that he has been made a co-accused in the case but was unaware of the charges pressed against him.
"I will have to go to jail if the Guardian Minister (Shirsat) is saying so. But I want to ask whether he (Shirsat) will go before me or after me because I have given a lot of evidence against him," he said.
Khan, who worked at the Nashik TCS, is accused of targeting employees in a WhatsApp group, pressuring them to pray and eat non-vegetarian food. According to the FIR, she also allegedly advised women employees to dress and behave in accordance with Islamic traditions.
TCS has earlier clarified that it has a zero-tolerance policy towards harassment and coercion of any form for a long time, and the employees allegedly involved in sexual harassment at the Nashik office were suspended.