Venture capitalist Mahesh Murthy, who is also an investor in the Left-leaning self-proclaimed ‘media watchdog’, Newslaundry, has been booked over sexual harassment charges by Mumbai Police after the National Commission for Women (NCW) wrote to DGP, Maharashtra, requesting personal involvement in the case. A case against him has been registered under section 354 (D), 509 of IPC and under section 67 of IT Act.
Following the Commission’s successful intervention and as per the statement of complainant (recorded in the presence of NCW officials and female police staff) cognizable offence is disclosed against #MaheshMurthy and the same has been registered against him by Mumbai Police.
— NCW (@NCWIndia) January 3, 2018
A woman had filed a case, after which the NCW wrote to DGP about Murthy hurling objectionable remarks at women over social media. According to Police, Murthy has been charged with stalking and outraging the modesty of women under the IPC as well as other relevant sections of the IT Act.
As per reports, in November, 2017, the NCW had written to DGP along with several media reports where the women had complained against Murthy. Murthy had claimed to have apologised for some of his posts but the NCW demanded strict action against Murthy for his alleged conduct.
Earlier, we had reported about Murthy’s alleged misconduct towards women. Twitter user and founder of technology website FactorDaily, in a series of tweets, had accused Murthy of years of sexual misconduct. Many Twitter users reacted to this and welcomed the action by Mumbai Police.
A very happy new year indeed! Finally, one step in the right direction. A bazillion thanks to this lady and of course @pankajontech‘s meticulous reporting and persistent voice. pic.twitter.com/X38Af3qipl
— Sandhya Ramesh (@sandygrains) January 4, 2018
Good news. A culture of silence or worse aggressive support was protecting the creepy sounding Mahesh Murthy despite serious harassment complaints https://t.co/go3u39BZTS
— barkha dutt (@BDUTT) January 3, 2018
Good that this predator @maheshmurthy is taken to task. Hope he is hauled up for good https://t.co/TayVWOkTwJ
— Masakadzas (@Nesenag) January 3, 2018
Interestingly, Newslaundry has never reported on Murthy’s alleged misconduct and hasn’t even carried his denials. The portal had infamously tried to defend even Tarun Tejpal by questioning the woman who had made the charges, but has kept mum on allegations against Murthy. In case the portal carries any views in support of their investor, we will update this article in spirit of fairness.
UPDATE: After widespread criticism on social media about Newslaundry’s silence over the charges against Mahesh Murthy, the website finally published a report about Murthy being booked on Friday, 5th January 2018.
