Hours after the police registered an FIR against a city-based oncologist Dr. Subbiah Shanmugam, a Chennai-based oncologist and ABVP national president, on charges of harassing an elderly woman, her nephew withdrew the complaint following a “compromise”.
The FIR was registered on Saturday after a delay of nearly a fortnight from the date of the complaint.
However, police said since they have registered the FIR, the investigation will continue. “They will have to settle the issue in the court,” a senior police officer told The Hindu .
The complainant, Balaji Vijayaraghavan, said, “The doctor spoke at length with my aunt and apologised. He asked me to consider him as his brother,” and added that besides his apology, there was pressure from other residents of the apartment building, where both his aunt and the doctor live.
“The fact that his service is needed for society during such a public health emergency (COVID-19) was also a reason for me to withdraw the complaint. However, I would like to reiterate that the CCTV footage (of a man, who he alleged is Dr. Subbiah, urinating outside the woman’s apartment) was genuine,” he added.
The ABVP, in a statement, said certain political parties were indulging in slander and character assassination. “The Congress, the DMK and the Left parties are conniving to defame Dr. Subbiah and ABVP,” said Nidhi Tripathi, national general secretary, ABVP.
On July 25, the Adambakkam police registered a case against the doctor under three Sections of the IPC and the Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Women Harassment Act.
An audio clip purportedly containing a telephonic conversation between Dr. Subbiah and one of his neighbours was circulated on social media and mobile messaging platforms.
Telephonic conversation
In the audio, a person could be heard saying he desperately wants a “compromise” (on the complaint) as he was defamed on social media and “wants to put an end to this”. He goes on to add that two people, at the behest of the RSS, tried in vain to contact a woman in the apartment complex. The other person on the call says not to involve outsiders and that dadagiri (threat) would not work. He goes on to say he even spoke to a local BJP functionary.
When contacted, Dr. Subbiah refused to comment on the audio clip. “As a law abiding citizen,I want everything to happen according to the law,” he added.
