Chennai actress accuses journalist of sexual harassment; scribe calls her 'new version of Sri Reddy'

A Chennai-based actress, Gayatri Sai has accused senior journalist Prakash M Swamy of sexually harassing her for years. She made the allegations through a Facebook live video recently. The journalist, however, has a completely different narrative.

The actress, who is a widow with two children, can be seen saying that Swamy had once promised to help her get a passport for her son. In connection to the same, he once visited her house and allegedly misbehaved with her, following which she had to push him out of the house, she said.

A teary-eyed Gayatri in the video alleged that Swamy has been sending her vulgar Whatsapp messages, and has been threatening her of maligning her image if she does not act according to his commands.

Gayatri also claimed that she had approached police, but did not get any help. The police told her that the case has been forwarded to the cyber cell, but the latter did not receive any such case, she said. According to her, the police refused to file an FIR, and instead just gave her a Community Service Register (CSR), she stated.

The actress further said that she has been getting calls and messages from several other women, who on condition of anonymity, have told her how Swamy sexually harassed them as well. Her allegations also include that the scribe has been threatening her in-laws.

Saying that she has all the evidence against Swamy, she has been posting some screenshots and audio clips on social media as well. She has posted one screenshot of Swamy's recent FB post where, he compared Gayatri with Sri Reddy, who was in news for serious allegations of sexual exploitation on several prominent people from South film industry. He has temporarily deactivated his FB profile.

When International Business Times India contacted Swamy, he narrated a completely different story. The journalist said that he is doing an investigative piece on an alleged murder of Gayatri's husband, and in the process he questioned her, which irked the actress. He further stated that Gayatri's lawyer demanded Rs 5 crore from him to settle the matter.

Below is Swamy's statement to IB Times through text message:

I am in the process of doing an investigative story and collecting evidence on the alleged murder of MR Sainath a prominent banker in Hong Kong. In the process I questioned his wife Gayathri Sainath (Who showed her head in one Tamil movie). Infuriated she started abusing me on Facebook since last year and it got intensified in June this year forcing me to file a complaint with Chennai Cyber Crime. As a retaliatory step, she went to Adayar All Women Police station and filed a CSR alleging sexual harassment. I had seen her only in public on couple of occasions and since her complaint had lot of contradictions it was not taken up. Frustrated she posted the CSR misrepresenting as FIR demanding my arrest on Youtube and Facebook. Her glycerin tears moved those who did not know her background. Her lawyers called me and demanded Rs 5 crores to settle the matter amicably. She fought with numerous people on numerous occasions. She thrashed the owner of Verve Saloon in Nungambakkam saying the facial mask damaged her face and collected Rs 20,000. She fought with the owners of Auroville in Khadar Nawaz Khan Road and demanded money. She fought with a traffic cop and threatened him saying he asked for bribe which she posted on her FB wall. She threatened to kill Nirmala Shyam, actor Jaishankar brother daughter and mentally tortured her. All I can say is that this is an attempt to thwart the media person from doing his job and I shall come out with my investigative report soon to expose the culprit whoever it may be. In this connection a Tamil weekly recently wrote that she may have killed her husband in Hong Kong and ran away to Chennai with insurance claims worth ten crore. I strongly deny all her allegations as frustrated and malicious outbursts.