Pune/Nashik, May 23 -- The Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the Nashik city police on Friday filed the first charge sheet in connection with the alleged instances of sexual harassment, exploitation and religious conversion at a Tata Consultancy Services (TCS)-linked business process outsourcing (BPO) unit in Nashik. The 1,200-page charge sheet was filed before an additional sessions court in a case registered at Deolali Camp police station against Danish Sheikh, Tausif Attar, Nida Khan and Mateen Patel, said police in a statement. The charge sheet invoked Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) sections 61(2) (criminal conspiracy), 64 (rape), 68 (sexual intercourse by a person in authority), 69 (sexual intercourse by employing deceitful means), 46 (abetment), 75 (sexual harassment), 318 (4) (cheating), 299 (hurting religious feelings), 249 (harbouring offender) along with provisions of the Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. Among other things, the charge sheet has cited WhatsApp chat screenshots and seized email trails of the victim and the accused, the statement said. Police have arrested a total of eight persons in nine FIRs including Nida Khan, Ashwini Chainani, Danish Shaikh, Tausif Attar, Raza Memon, Safi Sheikh, Asif Ansari, and Shahrukh Qureshi. All of them are in judicial custody, officials said. After eight complainants came forward to allege harassment at TCS's Nashik unit, a case was registered with Deolali Camp police and eight cases were registered at Mumbai Naka police station under various charges including criminal conspiracy, rape, abuse of authority, intentionally aiding in a crime, criminal breach of trust, deliberate acts to outrage religious feelings among others. Matin Patel, a corporator of the AIMIM, is accused of harbouring Nida Khan at his house in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar when she was absconding. He could not be contacted for comments. A senior official of SIT, requesting anonymity, said the charge sheet includes statements of 17 witnesses recorded before a judicial magistrate first class (JMFC) under Section 183 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita. "The investigators have accumulated various pieces of evidence against the accused in the case during the course of investigation," the police statement said. Software major TCS stated after these cases came to light that it has zero-tolerance policy towards harassment and coercion in any form, and the employees allegedly involved in sexual harassment at the Nashik office were suspended. Meanwhile, the National Commission for Women (NCW) chairperson Vijaya Rahatkar has directed TCS to set up Internal Committees under the PoSH Act in all its 127 units with 10 or more employees within four weeks, following a hearing into the case on May 21, it said in a statement. "Issues discussed included the absence of accessible local HR infrastructure, non-functional CCTV infrastructure etc," the statement said. While the TCS spokesperson did not respond to the messages, company officials aware of the matter said, "The CCTV cameras cannot be installed inside the Nashik BPO's Offshore Delivery Centre due to client confidentiality requirements."...