Day After BHEL Woman Officer Hangs Self, No Evidence of Harassment Found: Police

Hyderabad: No evidence has been found so far that a woman officer of public sector unit Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL), who committed suicide here on Thursday, was being sexually harassed by her colleagues, police said on Friday.

A police official told IANS that at the preliminary stage of the investigations, they found no evidence of sexual harassment or molestation against Deputy General Manager and others named by her in her suicide note.

The 33-year-old Accounts Officer of BHEL allegedly hanged herself at her residence in Miyapur area under the limits of Cyberabad police commissionerate on Thursday.

On a complaint by her husband, the police booked Deputy General Manager (Finance) and six of her other colleagues for allegedly abetting the suicide.

Venkatesh Shamala, Inspector of Police, Miyapur police station, told IANS that they have not arrested anyone as during the preliminary investigations, they did not find any prima facie evidence against them. He, however, said the investigations will continue.

He said the woman, who transferred to BHEL Hyderabad in June from BHEL Bhopal, named 18 colleagues in her four-page suicide note. They included her five colleagues at Bhopal office. She has named even some female colleagues in the suicide note.

Since her husband lodged a complaint against the DGM and six others, the police booked the case only against the seven.

The police spoke to senior BHEL officials as part of the investigations. They were shocked over the allegations of molestation and told the police that many employees sit in an open hall and there are no cabins where such an act could been committed.

The woman official alleged in her suicide note that DGM and others were following her, tapping her phone and may rape and even kill her. She wrote that the harassment started in Bhopal and at the instance of her colleagues in Bhopal, the colleagues in Hyderabad continued the harassment.

She had even approached cyber crime branch of the police earlier this week to allege that her phone was being tapped. "She even claimed that papers were placed in front and back cameras of her phone to track her movement," an official said.

The cyber crime branch officials ruled out the phone tapping or anybody tracking her movements through the handset.

Police said she had formatted her phone 3-4 days ago.