Sexual harassment case against Kerala IT firm CEO: Supreme Court asks parties to go for mediation

Fixing the matter for next hearing on February 2, 2026, the bench also directed that the report of the mediator be placed on record.

The court also extended the interim protection from arrest granted to Gopalakrishnan till the next date.

The Kerala High Court on September 11 refused to give Gopalakrishnan, CEO of Litmus 7 Systems Consulting Private Limited, anticipatory bail saying “the offences alleged against” him “are very serious and considering his alleged influence, there is every chance that he may influence the witnesses or tamper with the evidence”. The High Court, however, granted pre-arrest bail to the other accused in the case — Jacob P Thampy, Eby Paul and Bimalraj Haridas.

Gopalakrishnan then approached the Supreme Court. Hearing the case on September 26, the court directed that no coercive steps be taken against him in the interim.

On Friday, Senior Advocates Mukul Rohatgi and Raghenth Basant, who appeared for the petitioner, told the bench that the woman, who was a former employee of the IT firm, had filed the case against Gopalakrishnan and three others after coming out on bail in an extortion complaint filed by him.

After hearing the parties, Justice Nagarathna expressed doubts about the sexual harassment charges. The court accordingly advised the parties to try mediation.

As per the accused, on July 23, the woman contacted three staff members of the company and asked them to come to a hotel in Kochi where she and her husband allegedly demanded Rs 30 crore to settle the matter. The couple, he alleged, sought an assurance in writing from him and asked him to transfer Rs 10 crore to her account and two cheques for the remaining amount. On July 28, Rs 50,000 was transferred from Venu’s account to that of the woman. The next day, the couple was arrested by the police on charges of extortion and remanded in judicial custody.

Contradicting this, the woman alleged that when she and her husband were about to lodge a complaint against the CEO when the three representatives of the company came for mediation. They allegedly told her Venu was ready to apologise and asked the couple to come to a hotel on July 29, where they were arrested.

The couple, in their complaint, said Venu transferred Rs 50,000 to her bank account without informing her. In her complaint, she gave details about the alleged incidents of sexual harassment.