K T Raghavan, a general secretary of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s Tamil Nadu unit, was on Tuesday forced to resign from his post after his allegedly sexually explicit video chat with a woman following a “sting operation” was uploaded on a YouTube channel.
Madan Ravichandran, who joined the BJP last year and runs the channel with over 141,000 subscribers, has claimed to have released the video as part of his probe into allegations of sexual harassment and exploitation against state BJP leaders. He claimed to have video evidence against 15 of them. Ravichandran said he chose to release Raghavan’s video first as the media promotes him as “Mr Clean”.
In a tweet, Raghavan denied the charges against him and said he will face them legally. “Dharma will win,” he tweeted. He cited his 30-year career “without any problems” and added the video was released to tarnish his image. “People of Tamil Nadu know who I am. Those who are associated with me know who I am,” he said. Raghavan, a lawyer, said he resigned after meeting with state BJP chief K Annamalai.
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{{/usCountry}}As a BJP spokesman in Tamil Nadu, he has been among the faces of the party in the state. He is also part of a committee the BJP has formed to prepare for the local body elections.
Ravichandran said the face of the woman in the video has been blurred and her voice muted as she agreed to do the “sting” for public service. He added they showed the video to Annamalai for action since he is a young leader and should not allow older leaders to suppress the issue. Ravichandran cited a purported screen shot of a WhatsApp conversation and added Annamalai said they can release the video.
In a statement, Annamalai said Ravichandran met him twice over the issue and asked him to take action. “But he did not submit any video evidence.” Annamalai said he conveyed to Ravichandran that action cannot be taken based only on accusations and this has to be probed. Annamalai added Ravichandran sent him a message later and said that he would release the videos if action was not taken. He said he reiterated action will be taken only after an investigation and told Ravichandran to go ahead.
Tamil Nadu BJP has said they will form an enquiry commission to be headed by state secretary Malarkodi as they take these allegations seriously.
Congress Member of Parliament Jothimani said they will file a complaint with the police against Raghavan . “There is video evidence that he has misbehaved with a woman and that has to be investigated,” she tweeted.
The video has surfaced months after the state BJP issued a legal notice to Tamil daily Dinamalar for an article in June saying the party has allegedly received sexual harassment complaints and will set up a committee to look into them. The BJP called the article false and fabricated.