‘Would Place His Hand On My Thigh’: Employee Details Sexual Harassment And Inappropriate Touch Amid TCS Nashik Controversy, Accused Family Calls It ‘Office Politics’

TCS NASHIK ROW:  A newly married woman has claimed she faced taunts like “player”, “zero figure”, comments about Hindu gods and other lewd comments by her fellow colleagues when she joined the Nashik division of IT giant Tata Consultancy Services, or TCS, as an associate. She is one of over half a dozen women who have brought charges against her male co-workers of sexual harassment and forcible religious conversion.  By registering nine FIRs in the case, a Special Investigation Team of Nashik police has arrested eight suspects including a woman operations manager.

Woman Accuses Colleagues of Repeated Harassment

The victim told the police that she lives with her in-laws in Nashik as her husband works in Pune. She told the cops that, since June 20, 2025, when she got married, she has been working in the TCS Nashik branch as an Associate and she was undergoing three months of training and her trainers were Shahrukh Qureshi and Jayesh Gunjal.

During the training, she claimed, a certain Raza Menon, the Team Lead of the Loans Branch, who had nothing to do with the training, would repeatedly come up to her in the training room and ask about her personal life. How do you cope, now that your husband is away? Do you not take fright? In case you require something at all, please call me, I will be there to assist you any time, the victim told the police. 

It was just a month after she was married, she said but that did not make Raza cease commenting on her married life. You have just been married, where did you go for honeymoon? What was it you did there, you said Raza, the cops asked her? 

Victim Details Disturbing Workplace Misconduct

When Raza would talk about this, she said that her Team Leader Shahrukh Qureshi would provoke him. The woman indicated that Shahrukh would always question her on how her married life was.

During the Gudi Padwa day in March this year, the woman said that it was Raza who was pulling her saree.  According to her statement, on her way down the lobby, she felt that someone was pulling at her pallu (the loose end of the saree) and when she turned back she saw that her pallu was being held by Raza who looked at her with a lewd expression and grinned.

The reason behind the faked sexual harassment and conversion claims made against TCS employee Raza Memon by his family on Sunday is internal professional rivalry and office politics, according to the family, which said that he was a high performer.

TCS Nashik Case Raises Serious Questions as Probe Begins

In an interview with news agency PTI, the uncle of Memon Ayaz Kazi stated that the case was one of a series of planned conspiracy by the agency due to the academic and professional achievements of Memon. Memon, who is among the eight people arrested in the case, is in police custody. The family members of Memon also claimed that he was discriminated against in the case filed against him on the basis of communal discrimination. Kazi argued that those who were higher in the hierarchy than Memon belonged to other religions but nothing had been done to them.

The largest IT outsourcer in Asia, TCS, has declared an independent panel and involvement of third parties in its internal investigation, it claimed.

The woman started doing her regular job after having finished her training. At that time her team had 27 people and Atul Pandey was her Team Lead.

During this time, an employee by the name of Asif Ansari would often come and sit directly next to me, even though there were no free seats, and would touch my body, take my hand and in other instances touch my thigh or shoulder as well, which would make me feel very embarrassed, she explained to the police.

“Do you like me? I really like you”

At one time, he approached me, laid his hands on my stomach and waist saying, You have a zero figure. This happened on another occasion as I stood in the gallery when Asif came to me and he suddenly embraced me tightly. I threw him out of the way, and ran away, observed she.

She claimed that Asif continuously made very vulgar and obscene comments on her. “Do you like me? I really like you,” she said he would pester her with such remarks. 

I would just walk away angry without any response because I was new to the job and since I was afraid of losing the job, I did not inform anyone of this nor did I make any complaint, she said.

He, she said, would come and bother her even during lunch time, and find any excuse to sit beside her and rub hands on her. 

“He would come and sit right beside me, and place his hand on my thigh. He would say, ‘Just as you cook for your husband, you should cook and bring food for me as well. You certainly had boyfriends before you got married, so what’s the harm in having one more? Although you are married now, I do not mind. I will do whatever you might need physically, whatever may be your physical needs, but I was harassed every day at work, she said. 

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