No complaints on POSH or ethics channels, says TCS in Nashik case; SIT probe continues

TCS denies receiving complaints amid probe into harassment claims at Nashik BPO, while police search for suspended employee Nida Khan linked to allegations.

Four days after Tata Sons chairman N Chandrasekaran announced Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) had ordered a high-level probe into allegations of sexual harassment, religious coercion and other forms of harassment, on nine members of its staff at its BPO in Nashik, in a statement issued on Friday, the company said that the IT major had not received any complaint about the alleged incidents currently under investigation by a Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the Nashik police.

TCS Nashik row: Company says no complaints received as SIT probe continues (REUTERS)

“While detailed reviews are still underway, a preliminary review of the systems and records from the Nashik unit indicates that we have not received any complaints of the nature that are being alleged on either our ethics or POSH channels,” read a statement issued by K Krithivasan, CEO and MD, TCS.

The statement underscored that Nida Khan, a process associate with the BPO, who was placed under suspension on April 9, did not hold any leadership role in the organisation, and indicated that Khan “who is being repeatedly mentioned in the press as HR manager of TCS, is neither an HR manager nor responsible for recruitment. She served as a process associate and did not hold any leadership responsibilities.”

The statement also mentioned that the company had “engaged the services of expert teams from Deloitte and a prominent law firm Trilegal as independent counsel to the internal investigation led by Aarthi Subramanian, president and COO, TCS.”

Apart from this, an oversight committee chaired by Keki Mistry, independent director of TCS, has been constituted, Krithivasan’s statement read, adding the findings of the internal investigation will be presented to the committee, for review and implementation of recommendations.

HT had reported on Friday that 26-year-old Khan who had been portrayed as the absconding mastermind at the TCS-run BPO in Nashik, was in Mumbai where she is expecting her first child. Her role in the company was that of a tele-caller. She joined the BPO in December 2021, and is not among its senior employees, her family members told HT.

Search on for Nida Khan

Meanwhile, the Nashik police continued its search for Khan, who has been named in one of the nine FIRs in the case, on an allegation of making objectionable comments about a Hindu deity.

In a statement issued on Friday, police revealed that three independent police teams have been deployed in the search for Khan. “During the investigation, Nida Khan’s husband was taken into custody within the jurisdiction of the Mumbra police station for questioning,” the statement read.

The statement also said Khan’s husband had revealed that she was at a relative’s place, but when police officers reached the location, they found the house locked. “It has also been observed that mobile phones of both the accused and her relatives were switched off. The search for the accused, Nida Khan, is currently ongoing,” the statement said.

Khan’s lawyer Baba Sayyad said, “We are in the process of filing an anticipatory bail application for Nida. It shall be done soon.”

On the other hand, the state Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) on Friday questioned the two staffers from the BPO -- Raza Memon and Shafi Shaikh – who were arrested on March 28 and remanded to police custody till April 18. People aware of the developments said ATS had quizzed the duo for several hours to ascertain “if they had links with any terrorist outfit and if they were receiving funds from overseas for their unlawful activities”.

The nature of ATS’s probe followed Nashik city police commissioner Sandip Karnik’s communication to the NIA, ATS and intelligence department, seeking help in verifying these two aspects, which he said would help the police in its investigation.