CHENNAI: Sleuths from the Central Crime Branch (CCB) were granted a day’s custody of Sun Group Chief Operating Officer (COO) C Praveen Kumar to probe the alleged sexual harassment of a former employee who led the Malayalam channel of the group, here on Tuesday.
Sources said that a magistrate court in Saidapet passed orders for the custody as the CCB counsel argued that it was mandatory to probe Praveen Kumar. He was then taken away for questioning by the officials in the evening.
The CCB had already booked Saju David, head, Surya TV, and P Kannan, vice-president, Human Resources, Sun Group, for allegedly aiding Praveen in harassing the woman employee.
The accused were booked under Sections 406 (criminal breach of trust), 352 (a) (grave provocation), 506 (1) (criminal intimidation) of IPC and provisions of Tamil Nadu Prevention of Women Harassment Act. Meanwhlie, Praveen’s counsel has moved the court for bail, which is likely to come up for hearing on Wednesday.
The victim, who had been on the payroll of the group since 2011, alleged of being harassed continuously for the past two years. Unable to withstand his torture, she was forced to resign from the company. However, Praveen allegedly withheld her dues to the tune of Rs 36 lakh, and had been using it to force the woman to agree to his demands for sexual favours.