Pudukottai All-Women Police in Thoothukudi district have summoned Banumathi (22), who was earlier working as domestic help at the residence of Rajya Sabha member L. Sasikala Pushpa and lodged a complaint that she was subjected to sexual harassment and torture by the MP and her family members, following receipt of a letter stating that she was withdrawing her complaint.
The Investigation Officer (IO) in the case received the typed letter purportedly sent by Ms. Banumathi of Aanaikudi in Thisayanvilai in Tirunelveli district on Tuesday.
Sources said on Wednesday that in the letter received by the IO, Ms. Banumathi allegedly claimed that her complaint against the MP was false and hence she was withdrawing it. The police summoned her to verify whether the signature found in the letter was that of Ms. Banumathi.
Based on Ms. Banumathi’s complaint, Pudukottai All-Women Police had registered a case against the MP, her husband Lingeswara Thilagan, son Pradeep Raja and mother T. Gowri under Sections 294 (b) (obscene acts), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 344 (wrongful confinement), 354 (A) (sexual harassment) and 506 (i) (criminal intimidation) of the IPC and Section 4 of the Prohibition of Harassment of Woman Act, 2002, in August 2016.
The maid, along with her sister, who also claimed to have been tortured by the MP and her family members, had approached the District Police Office in Thoothukudi and submitted a petition seeking action against the four.
Sources said in the petition, Ms. Banumathi had said while she was expected to be at the beck and call of the MP, the latter’s husband and son harassed her sexually. She claimed that she attempted to escape from the MP’s house in Chennai in August 2015. Angered over this, the MP, her husband and mother, assaulted her, she had said.
