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AIMIM corporator held in TCS-linked BPO harassment case
Nashik city police on Friday arrested first-time AIMIM corporator Mateen Patel in connection with alleged sexual and religious harassment case at a Tata Consultancy Services (TCS)-linked BPO
PUNE: Nashik city police on Friday arrested first-time AIMIM corporator from Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Mateen Patel, in connection with an alleged sexual and religious harassment case at a Tata Consultancy Services (TCS)-linked BPO.
Public prosecutor Aparna Patil said Patel was produced before Additional Sessions Judge KG Joshi, who remanded him to 14 days in judicial custody.
The Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the case has accused Patel of sheltering co-accused Nida Khan, who allegedly remained absconding for 42 days after the FIR was registered on March 26.
Patel’s counsel, Ajaysinh Bhosale, said a bail application had been filed and would be heard on August 11. “The court had issued a non-bailable warrant against Patel after he failed to appear before it on July 28,” Bhosale said.
A Nashik police team travelled to Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar on Thursday evening to execute the warrant. Patel was detained, brought to Nashik on Friday morning, formally arrested and produced before the court.
The case stems from a complaint by a woman employee of the BPO, who accused three colleagues—Nida Khan, Danish Shaikh and Tausif Attar—of sexual harassment and hurting her religious sentiments. Based on her complaint, Devlali Camp police registered an FIR on March 26. While Shaikh and Attar were arrested soon after, Khan allegedly remained absconding.
On May 8, the Nashik SIT and Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar city police jointly arrested Khan from a house in the Naregaon area. During the investigation, the SIT alleged that Patel had arranged the accommodation where Khan and her family were staying. He was subsequently named as a co-accused.
The SIT, headed by assistant commissioner of police Sandeep Mitke, questioned Patel four times and seized his mobile phones as part of the investigation.
Patel has denied knowing Khan personally. He has maintained that he merely helped a family secure a rented house and was unaware that Khan was among its members.
