tamil-nadu

Updated: Sep 29, 2018 17:17 IST

A 42-year-old Chennai-based female actor has accused a senior journalist of sexually harassing her and threatening to defame her, and sought action against him.

In an eight-minute-long video posted on her Facebook account on Thursday, the actor, in tears, said journalist Prakash M Swamy had been abusing her on social media and WhatsApp since 2016. He had even tried to physically abuse her at her home once when he had come on the pretext of helping with her son’s passport.

Swamy has refuted the allegations, saying he never had met the actor at her house.

“I never visited her house and have not harassed her. Since I am an investigative journalist, I am working on a story which is against her. So she is levelling allegations against me. I will reveal all the details in a press conference on Monday,” he told HT.

The actor, in the video that has now gone viral, said Swamy had approached her first after the death of her husband in Hong Kong in 2016. “As he said that he will help us sort out an issue in my son’s passport, we were in touch with him. However, I noticed bad intentions in Swamy’s behaviour. Recently, he came to my house and sat next to me and tried to harass,” the actor said.

She claimed that he later sent filthy messages on social media and WhatsApp and threatened to defame her and also accused her of murdering her husband. She said she had approached the police, but only got a community service certificate on her sexual harassment complaint. “No FIR was registered.”

Sources in the women’s police station she approached said they had forwarded her complaint to the cyber cell since it involved harassment over internet. The actor also said that since she exposed the journalist, other women had come out with similar allegations against him.

“I have received numerous messages through inbox and WhatsApp from many women across the country and even from abroad. Since many don’t want their identity to be revealed, I am preserving them. But soon, with their permission, I will post,” the actor said.

Prakash has worked with various media houses in India. His Facebook account describes him as a correspondent for United Nations, Judge for Emmy awards and president of America Tamil Sangam.