Elderly deaf-mute ex-employee allegedly attacked by Kirtilal jewellery staff, store denies

Elderly deaf-mute ex-employee allegedly attacked by Kirtilal jewellery staff, store denies
Elderly deaf-mute ex-employee allegedly attacked by Kirtilal jewellery staff, store denies
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An elderly deaf-mute man was allegedly assaulted in a jewellery firm’s factory in Coimbatore by two of the firm’s employees. The firm however, has denied the claims and has instead accused the man, its former employee, of theft.

On August 17, a Facebook page called Kirtilal’s Mismanagement put up a post about a 64-year-old man named SK Anantha Subramanian who worked as a jewelery designer for Kirtilals, a jewellery firm. According to the Facebook post, Subramanian was allegedly assaulted by two of the firm’s employees at the company’s factory in the Thudiyalur area of Coimbatore on July 20.

Subramanian worked with the company for 22 years after joining in 1990. He was given a grand farewell on his retirement and gratuity was also paid to him, according to a family member who spoke to The News Minute on conditions of anonymity. After his retirement, however, he continued to work for the company on a freelance basis for a monthly remuneration, paid to him by cheque.

"The company asked him to come back and work with them, and he was paid on a monthly basis," the family member said.

According to the family member, Anantha Subramanian had worked at the Thudiyalur factory between July 1-6, and between July 7-18 he had worked at the Gandhipuram showroom.

On the morning of July 20 (Monday), he was summoned to the Thudiyalur factory where an HR official invited Anantha Subramanian for coffee to his office and allegedly began to assault him with the baton of a security officer who was also present. The pair allegedly beat him between 11 am and 7 pm, and also allegedly obtained signatures on three blank sheets of paper.

Photograph uploaded by the FB page

"He was beaten only on his backside. His threshold for pain is very high and the poor man took a bus and came home. We later filed an FIR against the two people," the family member said. 

A representative of Kirtilal’s told The News Minute that the allegations of assault were false, and claimed that Anantha Subramanian had “done some unwanted things’, but refused to elaborate further. "Nothing like that happened," insisted Natarajan, a General Manager based out of Chennai.

Subramanian’s relative however, said that the company has filed a complaint with the Thudiyalur police accusing Subramanian of stealing patterns from the company. "They said he has stolen a pattern and sold to someone else. They also claimed he had been absconding since July 17. How can that be true? He went to the showroom on 18th and factory on 20th. Even if he had done something wrong, what gives them the right to beat him black and blue? They are lying," family member said.

But why did the employees attack Ananth Subramaniam? "We have no clue. We hope the police will investigate and tell us," the man said.

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