Prominent Telugu musician Ghazal Srinivas has been accused of sexually harassing a female employee and threatening her. He has been sent to a 14-day judicial remand by the Punjagutta Police in Hyderabad.
It is alleged that Srinivas harassed a woman who worked in his radio station – Aalaya Vani, which airs spiritual shows and songs.
“He asked the employee to sleep with him and also threatened her with consequences, such as not paying her salary, if she continued rejecting his sexual advances,” said K Krishnaiah of the Punjagutta Police Station.
Although the arrest was made on Tuesday, the case was registered on December 29 itself.
The complainant had joined the radio station in 2017 and since then Srinivas had been harassing her continuously.
The complainant had recorded videos of the sexual harassment she faced at her workplace and submitted them as evidence, based on which Srinivas was arrested.
“Preliminary investigation revealed that it was not just the complainant who was asked for sexual favours. Almost all the women employees complained of the same. In the videos, Srinivas is seen talking indecently to women employees and molesting them,” said Krishnaiah.
Srinivas, however, has rubbished the charges and said that he never behaved inappropriately with anyone.
Ghazal Srinivas’s original name is Kesiraju Srinivas, and he hails from Tenali in Andhra Pradesh. He earned his moniker thanks to the ghazals he sang and gained popularity.
He holds the Guinness World Record for singing songs in 76 different languages at a concert.
In 2015, he visited Israel as a peace activist and sang ‘Golden Dreams of Gandhiji’ in Hebrew, Hindi and English.
He also acted in a few Telugu films like Vichitram and A Film by Aravind.
With IANS inputs