“It was a relationship gone wrong between Danish Shaikh and one of the complainants that has ruined the lives of all the others,” says the wife of one of the employees of a BPO unit of Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) in Nashik who is facing FIRs related to sexual harassment and hurting religious sentiments.
“They were not involved. Cases not linked to each other have been clubbed,” says the Nashik-based woman, whose husband is among seven employees of the BPO under arrest, with one woman staffer said to be on the run.
Speaking to The Indian Express on the condition of anonymity, the woman said: “Everyone in the office knew about Danish and the woman (who has accused him of rape) being in a relationship.”
The woman said that she also knew that in February, Danish and his friend had a fallout, “and her parents approached some politicians”. “They convinced her to give a complaint to police. It was in all of this that other men, including my husband, were caught, in spite of having nothing to do with the case.”
The Nashik city police have filed nine FIRs against them. (Express Photo)
In one of the FIRs against the above accused, a complainant has said that in 2023, when she joined his team, he would say things with “double meaning” and touch her inappropriately, and that when she complained to seniors, they told her there had been similar complaints against him in the past and asked her to be careful.
She has also alleged that after she got married in 2025 and went to ask for leave as she was going to Goa, he asked her personal questions like if she was going on her honeymoon and if she consumed alcohol. When he came to know she had complained against him, he asked her to do extra work, she has alleged in her complaint.
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The accused’s wife said: “My husband was on leave when he was called in March last week and told that police were investigating the FIR against Danish. My husband did not know Danish… their interaction was limited to exchanging pleasantries. On April 1, police said their investigation was complete and called my husband to sign as he was in a senior position.”
The woman added: “We had a family function at home, but he still went to the office around 6.30 pm. An hour later, when I called him, he said several colleagues had been taken to the Mumbai Naka Police Station to sign documents, and that he would leave from there in a bit. At 11.30 pm, he called me saying police were arresting him.”
She said she rushed to the police station to plead that her husband had nothing to do with Danish. “I said they should tell me on what grounds my husband was being arrested. It was at 2.30 am that they told me it was not on the Danish FIR but that a few other women had complained and that they were registering more FIRs in the matter against him and others.”
On allegations of hurting religious sentiments, she said, “My husband only took vegetarian food in his tiffin. He told me some of his colleagues may be uncomfortable with him eating non-vegetarian food. Why would such a person talk down another religion?”
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The first FIR in the case was registered against Danish, 34, at Deolali Police Station in Nashik on March 26, and is the only one that carries a rape charge. It was during investigation into this FIR that the Nashik city police claimed to have unearthed the other alleged incidents, leading to the registration of eight more cases.
Police have said the complainant in Danish’s case was in a relationship with him, and he allegedly hid from her that he was married. As per the police, in February, a month before the FIR, Danish’s wife messaged the complainant and told her about his marriage and two children.
A rape case was registered as Danish had established sexual relations with the woman allegedly on the promise of marrying her, police said. Charges of hurting religious sentiments were added as Danish had “influenced” her to follow his religion, police said.
While six of the accused are in judicial custody, Pune-based operations manager Ashiwini Chainani is in police custody.
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The arrested employee’s wife who spoke to The Indian Express said that all the accused were engineers. “One of them was only recently hired during college recruitment. He was in the company for barely three months.”
Police have said that Chainani is facing a case as a complainant said she told her about the alleged sexual harassment “orally”, but that Chainani discouraged her from pursuing it. As a member of the Prevention of Sexual Harassment committee of the office, she should have taken action, police said.
An officer of the SIT probing the case said they had only proceeded based on statements. “Since these were serious offences, we spoke to the women and assured them to speak without fear. It was based on their complaints that FIRs were registered against those named by them.”
The officer said the statements had been recorded in front of a magistrate. “We will investigate all the allegations and, depending on our findings, file chargesheets.”
The Nashik city police have filed nine FIRs against them. (Express Photo)