Ernakulam: Kochi Infopark police on Tuesday registered a case against Venu Gopalakrishnan, CEO of the Infopark-based IT firm Litmus 7, on charges of sexual harassment of a former woman employee of his company. The case was filed based on a complaint filed by the survivor. Kochi City Police Commissioner Putta Vimaladitya told Onmanorama that a case was registered and a probe is on. 

Gopalakrishnan has been slapped with charges related to outraging the modesty of a woman, sexual harassment and criminal intimidation, as per the FIR. He is named the first accused in the case, and Jacob, Ebi and Bimalraj are the other three accused. They are the employees of the company. All of them are residents of Kakkanad. 

Gopalakrishnan faces charges of sexual harassment a week after Ernakulam Central police arrested the former woman employee and her husband for allegedly blackmailing him. A Thrissur-based couple allegedly hatched a plot to honeytrap Gopalakrishnan and to extort a huge amount from him. A press note issued by the police said that the couple demanded ₹30 crore from Gopalakrishnan by threatening him with filing a rape case and that he was involved in an illicit relationship with her. 

The police statement said that the couple took ₹50,000 from Venu Gopalakrishnan on July 28 and received a cheque of ₹20 crore from Bimalraj on July 29. The cops seized cheque leaves and agreement papers from the couple at the time of arrest. Ernakulam Judicial First Class Magistrate Court later granted bail to the accused on the condition that they would cooperate with the probe. 

The survivor filed a complaint with the police after she was granted bail in the blackmail case. Onmanorama called Venu Gopalakrishnan for a response, but he could not be reached. Venu Gopalakrishnan is a celebrated figure among vehicle buffs for his penchant for luxury cars and he is known to splurge lakhs in the bid for fancy numbers for his pricey cars.