SIT records statements of employees of regional channel

A senior official of the channel told The Indian Express that they also lodged a complaint against the woman with the police as the case was an attempt to defame the channel.

On March 17, a woman who was a contestant in a show which airs on the channel lodged a complaint with the women’s cell of Mohali police and alleged that some persons at the channel exploited the women contestants, after sedating them and keeping them in a hotel.

“Some of the senior members handling the show are working like a gang and exploit the women. They also send the contestants to officers and politicians. The hotel where the women contestants were kept is also not safe and there are hidden cameras in the washrooms, filming the women to blackmail them,” the complainant alleged.

Acting on the complaint, the district police registered a case under sections 341 (wrongful restraint), 342 (wrongful confinement), 343 (wrongful confinement for three or more days), 354 (outraging modesty of a woman), 354-A, 354-B (criminal force against a woman with intent to disrobe), 354-C (where the victim consents to the capture of the images or any act, but not to their dissemination to third persons), 328 (causing hurt by means of poison), 420 (cheating) and 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) against the director, assistant director and assistant producer of the show, managing director of the channel, the managing director of the hotel and 20 to 25 unidentified persons.

Meanwhile, a senior member of the management of the channel told The Indian Express that two of the accused were even not their employees and that the management had asked the police to investigate about them.

“It was a frivolous complaint, the police are investigating it and the entire team was cooperating with the police. The complaint was lodged to tarnish the image of the company,” he added.

Mohali Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Harjeet Singh said that the SIT is already investigating the case and recorded the statements of the employees of the channel. “The team is investigating about the allegations,” he added.

A police officer investigating the case said on condition of anonymity that the allegations leveled by the woman have bot been established just as yet, as there are a total of 24 contestants from the show and 23 of those contestants contended the statement of the complainant.