TN Professor, Accused In 'Sex for Degrees' Case, Granted Bail

Agencies

March 13, 2019

Madurai, Mar 13: A woman college teacher was Tuesday granted conditional bail by the Madras High Court, nearly 11 months after her arrest in a sensational sex scandal case.

Justices N Kirubakaran and SS Sundar of the Madurai Bench granted bail to suspended assistant professor Nirmala Devi, who has been accused of luring some girl students to extend favours to senior officials of the Madurai Kamaraj University (MKU) in return for higher marks and money.

The government counsel submitted they had no objection to grant of bail.

The judges directed her to fully cooperate with police in the investigation and barred her from giving any interview to the media that would harm the probe.

Earlier, her bail petitions were rejected by the lower court and the high court as well. Devi, assistant professor at private Devanga Arts College in Aruppukottai affiliated to the MKU, was arrested on April 16 last year on a complaint by the college and a women''s forum after an audio-clip of her purported conversation with students went viral on social media.

In the audio-clip, she was purportedly heard advising girl students to "adjust" with some officials "for getting 85 per cent marks and money", a suggestion seen as asking them to extend sexual favours.

She was suspended by the college after an internal enquiry before her arrest.

As the alleged luring of the girl students triggered an outrage, the case was transferred to the Crime Branch CID within days of it being registered.

Based on interrogation of Devi, police arrested Assistant Professor V Murugan of the university and research student Karuppasamy for their alleged involvement in the case.

The two were granted bail by the Supreme Court later after the high court turned down their pleas.

The CB-CID had filed a 200-page final charge sheet in the case in the judicial magistrate court in Srivilliputtur in September last year. Earlier, it had submitted a 1,160 page preliminary charge sheet in July.

In the final charge sheet, CB-CID altered the charges to include offences of trafficking, sexual harassment and conspiracy under the Indian Penal Code and also under the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Harassment of Women Act and the Information Technology Act.

The fresh charges were included based on investigation, including voice test of Devi conducted at a high-tech laboratory in Chennai by police.

During the proceedings in the Judicial Magistrate court at Srivilliputhur, Devi had denied the charges and alleged police "coerced" her to give a statement.

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Voting underway in Karnataka bypolls: Family legacies and political heavyweights battle across 3 segments

News Network

November 13,2024

Bengaluru: An estimated overall 10.14 per cent voter turnout was recorded during the first two hours, since the voting began for bypolls to three Assembly segments in Karnataka on Wednesday, election officials said.

The voting began at 7 am and will go on till 6 pm.

More than seven lakh voters are eligible to cast their votes in about 770 polling stations in Shiggaon, Sandur and Channapatna, where a total of 45 candidates are in the fray.

While Channapatna recorded 10.34 per cent voter turnout till 9 am, it was 10.08 per cent in Shiggaon, and 9.99 per cent in Sandur, election officials said.

Voters, including women and elderly were seen queuing up in front of polling booths in these segments.

By-polls for Sandur, Shiggaon, and Channapatna are necessitated, as the seats fell vacant following the election of their respective representatives -- E Tukaram of Congress, former CM Basavaraj Bommai of BJP, and Union Minister H D Kumaraswamy of JD(S) -- to Lok Sabha in May elections.

As many as 31 candidates are in the fray from Channapatna, while Sandur and Shiggaon have six and eight contenders, respectively.

Elaborate security arrangements have been made in the three segments for the smooth conduct of the polls.

The by-polls will witness a straight fight between the ruling Congress and BJP in Sandur and Shiggaon segments, while in Channapatna, JD(S) which is part of the NDA alliance is in contest against the grand old party.

Among the three segments, Channapatna is considered to be a "high profile", where the contest is between C P Yogeeshwara, a five time MLA from the segment and former Minister, who joined the Congress quitting BJP ahead of nomination, and actor-turned -politician Nikhil Kumaraswamy, who is Kumaraswamy’s son and former PM H D Deve Gowda's grandson.

BJP's Bharath Bommai, son of Basavaraj Bommai, is fighting Congress Yasir Ahmed Khan Pathan, who had faced defeat against the former Chief Minister in the 2023 Assembly polls, in Shiggaon.

Bharath Bommai and his father cast their vote at a polling booth in Shiggaon segment.

In Sandur, Bellary MP Tukaram's wife E Annapurna of Congress is contesting from the seat vacated by her husband, against, BJP ST Morcha president Bangaru Hanumanthu, who is considered close to party leader and former mining barron G Janardhan Reddy.

Annapurna, Tukaram and other family members cast their votes at a booth in the segment.

With Nikhil Kumaraswamy and Bharath Bommai contesting, the third generation of Gowda and Bommai families are in the fray in this by-poll. Both their fathers and grandfathers have served as Karnataka's Chief Ministers in the past.

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