Hours after the Chennai police filed an FIR against Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) national president Dr Subbiah Shanmugam for harassing a 60-year-old woman in Chennai, the student outfit tweeted saying that the complaint has now been withdrawn.
“Misunderstandings between two families now stand cleared and all the issues between the two parties have now resolved,” ABVP stated.
However, speaking to The News Minute an investigating officer said that even though a withdrawal letter has been given, the police will continue the investigation because an FIR had been filed.
The report also added that the family has said that they were being pressurised by the neighbours to not take the matter further.
Shanmugam, who is also an oncologist by profession, had allegedly urinated on the woman’s front door, and threw used masks on her doorstep.
The CCTV Footage
The alleged harassment began after the woman told Shanmugam that he could use her parking space if he paid for it.
A family member of the woman also reportedly told NDTV that Dr Shanmugam would call up the woman and ask her if she wanted to eat chicken, even though he knew that she was vegetarian.
After suspecting that he was throwing garbage outside her door, the woman’s family had installed a CCTV camera on her floor on 10 July, according to The News Minute. At 8:20 pm on the same day a man was recorded urinating on her door. TNM, having accessed the video, reported that a man clad in a blue shirt was indeed urinating in front of the woman’s house. The family has alleged that this man was Dr Shanmugam
The 60-year-old’s nephew Balaji Vijayaraghavan posted about the incident on social media.
The FIR
The police had formerly told The Indian Express that they had issued a receipt of the woman’s complain, and had admitted that no FIR had been registered on the complaint.
However, later an FIR was filed, charging Shanmugam with harassment, “causing mischief” and violation of quarantine rules.
According to an NDTV report, Bala, a police officer at at Chennai's Adambakkam police station, had earlier said that the woman did not want to file the FIR.
NDTV further reported that the police registered a harassment complaint against Dr Shanmugam after the controversy attracted media glare.
Dr R Dhinakaran, Additional Commissioner, Chennai South reportedly told NDTV:
‘We’ve also added sections for causing mischief and disobedience of quarantine rules. We are investigating the CCTV footage given.”
‘Derogatory Propaganda: Dr Shanmugan, ABVP Respond
According to TNM, Dr Shanmugam has denied the accusations and alleged that the CCTV video was doctored.
He also insisted that he never put any waste on her door or harassed her in anyway.
The ABVP has referred to the incident as a malicious, derogatory propaganda against their national president. They have also alleged that the video was “tampered with” and blamed NSUI for sharing it and making “libellous” claims.
According to TNM, the woman’s nephew had formerly tweeted that the family was under a lot of pressure, and since the ABVP national president was a doctor and his services would be required during the pandemic, the family would be okay if he just went for cognitive behavioural therapy.
Meanwhile, DMK leader Kanmozhi took to Twitter to demand action against Shanmugam.
(With inputs from NDTV, The News Minute and The Indian Express.)
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)