Congress social media team member arrested for sexual harassment, released on bail
New Delhi: A member of the Congress social media team, Chirag Patnaik, was arrested on Monday after a former colleague accused him of sexual harassment, police said.
However, he was later released on bail, police said.
According to reports, Patnaik was booked on July 3 after a woman, a member of the Congress IT cell, accused him of molesting her. The woman left the team since then.
The woman also alleged that Congress’ social media head, Divya Spandana, refused to listen to her complaint against Patnaik.
However, on Tuesday, Spandana said an internal committee is investigating the matter.
Regarding the allegations: The Social Media Dept has set up an Internal Committee and as per the provisions of the Act the Internal Committee is already investigating the complaint. In view of confidentiality of the investigation no further comments will be made.
— Divya Spandana/Ramya (@divyaspandana) July 31, 2018
Earlier in July, Spandana had issued a statement signed by 39 Congress social media team members defending Patnaik.
In response to the recent allegations against one of our team workers by an ex worker, please read the statement below- pic.twitter.com/4LVa5Hzoxk
— Divya Spandana/Ramya (@divyaspandana) July 3, 2018
Meanwhile, the BJP has asked the Delhi police to conduct a thorough probe and demanded strict action against the accused.
