Mahesh Murthy gets anticipatory bail in sexual harassment case after arrest

Renowned marketer and angel investor Mahesh Murthy has been granted anticipatory bail after being arrested by Mumbai police in a sexual harassment case filed by a Delhi-based woman.

Terming the arrest by Khar police as procedural, Mumbai-based Angel investor and Seedfund co-founder Murthy took social media to announce his bail.

Murthy, who had posted a blog ‘The confessions of serial offender’ in February 2017 said that this is an attempt to counter-sue and he will fight this too in court to defend his reputation.

This is the same issue on which I had filed a case & and where the High Court has already passed an interim order in my favour & against the complainant back in April 2017.

This is an attempt to counter-sue. I will fight this too in court to defend my reputation.

(2/n)

— Mahesh Murthy (@maheshmurthy) February 9, 2018

Murthy was booked on 29 December under Indian Penal Code (IPC) under section 67 of IT Act, section 354(D) and 509 of IPC following objectionable language used by him towards many women online.

Following the allegations, the case was registered by the Mumbai Police against the angel investor after the intervention of National Commission of Women (NCW) which received complaints against him.

Based on a complaint filed at the Commission and following NCW’s successful intervention, #MaheshMurthy has been arrested by @MumbaiPolice today u/Sec 354 IPC read with 67A of IT Act. @sharmarekha @MinistryWCD

— NCW (@NCWIndia) February 9, 2018

NCW had written to the Director General of Police, Maharashtra regarding the alleged usage of objectionable, derogatory, sexual remarks and obscene signs made by angel investor Murthy on social media platforms against several women.

Besides the complaint made by a Delhi-based woman, the commission had also highlighted a similar issue raised by a couple of women entrepreneurs including a journalist and HR professional accused Murthy of inappropriate behaviour.

In February, co-founder of Vayuz – Pooja Chauhan and Wamika Iyer, Founder of FrshDay.in shared their conversation with Murthy that had made them uncomfortable because of its implicit sexual nature.

Notably, tech media website FactorDaily had last year put out multiple articles in which a number of women came forward against Murthy’s sexual misconduct.

Apart from being an investor in startups such as Careers360 and HandyTrain, Murthy had founded Pinstorm, a digital advertising firm in 2004. He also took an exit from subscription-based digital media startup The Ken in May 2017.

The development was reported by HT.