A case of alleged rape and criminal intimidation has been registered against Sajjan Jindal, chairman and managing director of JSW Group, following a complaint filed by a 30-year-old woman at the Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC) police station in Mumbai.
In a statement on Sunday, Jindal denied the allegations as “false and baseless”.
According to the complainant, the accused sexually assaulted her on January 24, 2022, and she approached the police on February 16 this year. In her statement to the police, she also cited a couple of incidents prior to January 24, 2022, when he allegedly forcefully kissed her.
On December 5 this year, the woman filed a petition in the Bombay High Court, alleging that the police did not act on her complaint. On December 12, the BKC police informed the HC that the woman’s statement would be recorded and action would be taken.
An FIR was lodged the next day, on December 13. A day later, the police informed the court that the woman’s statement had been recorded and an offence was registered under IPC Sections 376 (rape), 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty), and 506 (criminal intimidation).
A Bench of Justices Prakash D Naik and Nitin R Borkar then took note of the police’s submission and directed an “expeditious” investigation. “In these circumstances, we dispose of this petition. The investigation (is) to be completed expeditiously within statutory limits,” the Bench said.
In a statement on Sunday, Jindal’s office said: “Mr Sajjan Jindal denies these false and baseless allegations. He is committed to providing full cooperation throughout the investigation. As the investigation is ongoing, we will refrain from commenting further at this stage. We kindly request you to respect the privacy of the family.”
According to police, the complainant met Jindal during an IPL match in Dubai on October 8, 2021. The complainant and her brother were in the VIP box at the stadium when they met the industrialist.
“My brother is a property consultant, and as Jindal wanted to buy some property, he shared his number with us, following which my brother asked me to get in touch with him after we reach Mumbai,” the complainant said in her statement to the police.
According to the statement, on December 13, 2021, the 30-year-old texted Jindal but they could not meet then. A few days later, on December 18-19, she and her brother reportedly met Jindal at the wedding of a politician’s son in Jaipur.
“There, he was trying to get friendly with me,” she said in her statement. “Since then, we have been in regular touch with each other. From December 23, 2021, Jindal had even started calling me ‘babe’ and ‘baby’ in the messages,” she said.
On December 23, he also sent her his credit card details on WhatsApp, she said.
The complainant told police that Jindal would often ask her to meet him in a private setting, citing concerns about his social image. She said she would avoid such conversations, and would insist on meeting him in restaurants and meeting rooms.
Subsequently, the woman alleged, she booked a suite at a five-star hotel in Bandra in her name, on Jindal’s instructions. During this meeting, he allegedly shared personal details about his family members, including his relationship with his wife.
“I got very awkward with those conversations, following which we had a discussion about work. He then gave me a casual hug and tried to kiss me but I resisted the kiss and left, after which he sent me messages claiming to be interested in me, along with kissing emojis, and requested me to send ‘hot’ photos,” she said in her statement.
During a drive on December 26, 2021, she said, Jindal told her that he liked her a lot and would help her in setting up her business, bungalow and a car. “I then asked him about our (legal) relationship status, when he said that he has grandchildren in India and because of social issues, he won’t be able to keep any kind of relationship in India. But he claimed that we would behave like husband and wife outside India, which I refused,” she said.
“He would video call me on WhatsApp and Facetime only when his wife was not around,” she alleged.
The statement cites two instances, on December 27, 2021 and January 5, 2022, when Jindal allegedly forcefully kissed her at his house on Peddar Road and office in BKC respectively.
According to the statement, on January 24, 2022, at about 7 pm, Jindal held her hand and pulled her inside the bathroom of his office in BKC and sexually assaulted her.
“Since then, he has started distancing himself from me. His calls and messages were also reduced. I then realised that Sajjan Jindal was cheating me, and, as I liked him, I tried to clear the misunderstanding, but he was avoiding me. He also threatened me from calling and messaging,” the complainant said in her statement, adding that he subsequently blocked her number.
“Sajjan Jindal is a big businessman and as I was worried that he would harm me and my family, I did not lodge a police complaint against him. But later, when I told my family members about the incident, they gave me confidence to approach the police, following which I submitted a complaint application at BKC police station on February 16, 2023,” she said in her statement.
She alleged that Jindal’s team members approached her and instructed her to withdraw her complaint.
The JSW Group is one of the largest business groups in the country and has business interests across steel, energy, infrastructure, cement and paints among others. The four key listed entities of the JSW Group had an aggregate market capitalisation of Rs 3.37 lakh crore as on December 15, 2023. The largest company in the group, in terms of market cap, is JSW Steel which was valued at Rs 2.12 lakh crore as on Friday. In the year ended March 2023, JSW Steel announced net profit of Rs 4,937 crore on a revenue of Rs 1,31,687 crore.
According to Forbes, Savitri Jindal and family, with a net worth of US$ 28.9 billion as on Friday, was 54th on global ranking and 4th among the richest Indians. Sajjan Jindal is the son of Savitri Jindal and, according to Forbes, the biggest assets of the Jindal Group family are overseen by him.
