KOLKATA:
The woman from Kolkata who accused a CEO of sexual assault on a July 16 flight to Abu Dhabi said she needed time to gather herself and speak up. Speaking to TOI from Boston on Friday, she said she felt extremely angry at what had happened and uneasy about letting a molester walk free.
That was when she decided to write about the harassment in detail on X, she said, adding that she would also write to the commissioner of police in Kolkata and seek justice.Her parents were also in legal consultations, she said. The woman, who has a master’s degree in public policy from Harvard University, had come down to Kolkata to vote in the Lok Sabha election on June 1 “in favour of an inclusive society”. She was returning to Boston via Abu Dhabi when the alleged assault happened.
In the series of posts on X, she said her ordeal began shortly after flight EY 257 took off from Kolkata around 9pm Tuesday. “I was seated next to industrialist Dinesh Kr Saraogi. He must be roughly 65 and told me he lived in Oman but travelled frequently. He started chatting me up – very normal conversation about our roots, family, etc – (and) the conversation moved to what my hobbies were. He asked whether I enjoyed watching movies and I was, like, of course. He then proceeds to tell me he has some movie clips on his phone. He whips out his phone and earphones to show me PORN!” she wrote on X.
As she froze in shock in seat 2C, Saraogi allegedly started to grope her. “I eventually ran off to the washroom and complained to the air staff. Thankfully, the Etihad team was very proactive and took action immediately. They made me sit in their seating area and served me tea and fruits.” She recalled that she got off at Abu Dhabi’s Zayed International Airport, where she made a verbal complaint with the airline that prompted them to call airport police and detain Saraogi. “They gave me two options: to head to the police station and lodge an official complaint or give up my rights to complain about the incident. I wanted to lodge a complaint but I had a connecting flight in less than an hour. So, I had to leave without filing a complaint,” she said. Saraogi was then allowed to leave.
TOI called Saraogi on Friday but the call was disconnected. Repeated calls thereafter went unanswered; there was no response to text messages either. TOI reached out to Etihad, the airline she praised for being “extremely cooperative”, but there was no response. Cops in Kolkata said they were yet to get an official complaint but promised a probe if a case was filed.
Group chairman and BJP MP Naveen Jindal responded to the woman’s post on X: “Thank you for reaching out and speaking up! It takes a lot of courage to do what you did and I want you to know that we have a zero-tolerance policy for such matters.” The woman responded she would be waiting to know the action taken.
The Bombay Stock Exchange sought a clarification from Jindal Steel & Power Ltd as news about the allegation spread, prompting the company to issue a clarification that Vulcan Green Steel was not connected with its listed company, Jindal Steel & Power, but it was a promoter (Naveen Jindal)-owned company.