Chennai: A special team from the Greater Chennai City Police has arrested Kingshuck Debsharma (30), a former research scholar in IIT, Madras from West Bengal on charges of sexual assault on his woman colleague in 2016 and 2018.
The key accused was picked up at Diamond Harbor police station limits. He was produced before a local court Monday to obtain a transit warrant after which he would be brought to Chennai for further questioning, police said.
Kingshuk Debsharma was one of the eight accused in the case. The others were Subadheep Banarjee, Malay Krishna Mahato, Raveendran, Edamana Prasad, Narayan Patra, Sourav Dutta and Ayan Battacharya.
In her complaint, the woman, also a research scholar in IIT-Madras, said she was harassed physically and mentally by her colleague Kingshuk Debsharma ever since she joined the institution in 2016, while others physically and mentally harassed her.
She has also stated that she was sexually abused in Coorg in 2018 when they went on a tour, disrobed and filmed in her lab in the campus.
As no action was taken in her earlier complaint, the victim filed a fresh complaint with the Mylapore all-women police station recently seeking registration of cases against the accused under the Prevention of SC/ST Act.
The All India Democratic Women’s Association had recently sought CB-CID probe into the case citing inordinate delay on the part of the city police to arrest the accused and discrepancies in registering a case.
Acting on the complaint, the special team went to Kolkata and accused the key accused.