Inspired by movie, youth dies after immolating himself in Karnataka
Bengaluru (PTI): A youth who had immolated himself for "salvation" as depicted in Telugu horror movie 'Arundhati' succumbed to his burns at a government hospital here.
Family sources said 23-year-old Renuka Prasad, a Class 12 dropout from a village in Madhugiri taluk of Tumakuru district, had watched the film about two dozen times.
His parents often asked him to refrain from doing so but he never heeded to their advice.
"Just as the central character of the movie got salvation after immolation, Prasad too tried the same act by pouring about 20 litres of petrol on his body on the village outskirts," sources said.
Some passersby who saw him being engulfed in flames rushed him to the nearby hospital. He was later taken to the Victoria Hospital here where he succumbed to his injuries on Wednesday.
Prasad also allegedly made a video telling his father that he would get "salvation" after immolating himself.
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Nashik TCS case: Accused Nida Khan held in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar
Nashik (PTI): Weeks after she went into hiding, a female employee of the TCS unit in Nashik, accused in a case related to alleged religious conversion and sexual harassment of some women colleagues, has been arrested, police said.
Nida Khan was held on Thursday in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Nashik Police Commissioner Sandeep Karnik said.
Khan is an accused in the Deolali Camp police station crime register number 156/26 here, he said.
A Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the Nashik police is probing nine cases of molestation and harassment at the IT major’s Nashik unit.
It had arrested eight persons, including a female operations manager, by registering nine FIRs after allegations of exploitation, attempt of forceful conversion, hurting religious sentiments, molestation and mental harassment of female employees at the TCS unit came to light.
The SIT had launched a search for Khan in different parts of Maharashtra. She is accused of targeting employees in a WhatsApp group, pressuring them to pray and eat non-vegetarian food.
According to the FIR, Khan allegedly advised women employees to dress and behave in accordance with Islamic traditions.
Some complainants have also alleged that they were coerced or pressured into adopting religious practices, including praying, changing dietary habits, and adopting religious symbols.
Besides Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) provisions for sexual harassment and defamation, Khan has also been booked under relevant sections of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, as the complainant belongs to a Scheduled Caste.
On April 18, she had moved the Nashik court seeking anticipatory bail and interim protection from arrest pending the plea hearing, citing her pregnancy. Her anticipatory bail plea was rejected by a court here on May 2.
TCS has clarified that it has adopted a zero-tolerance policy towards harassment and coercion of any form for a long time, and the employees allegedly involved in sexual harassment at the Nashik office have been suspended.
