The Mahindra Group issued a statement on Monday regarding the “undignified and highly inappropriate messages” allegedly posted by one of its employees toward a political leader on Facebook.
This comes a day after Biju Janata Dal (BJD) MP Sulata Deo alleged that Mahindra’s Nashik branch manager and a BJP worker, Satyabrata Nayak, sent her rape and murder threats on Facebook.
In an official statement, the Mahindra Group said an immediate investigation is being conducted “with utmost seriousness” and assured that strict action would be taken should the allegations be validated.
The company said it has “zero tolerance for any form of misconduct, intimidation, or threats” and has “always enshrined the importance of human dignity.”
According to media reports, no police case has been registered yet. The BJP MP is “waiting for the law agencies to take suo motu cognisance” of the matter.
What are the allegations? Check Sulata Deo’s X post here:
In an X post, Sulata Deo on Sunday shared screenshots showing comments in an Odia-English mix targeting her.
“Dear PMO INDIA, a worker of Mahindra Company, Nasik, as well as a BJP worker, openly threatens a Woman MP to rape and kill. If this is the situation, imagine what happens to the unprivileged women of Odisha!!!,” she wrote while tagging BJP leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah, in her post.
The threats were reportedly made in response to her Facebook post on a video statement of the minor girl of Odisha’s Puri district, who died of burn injuries at AIIMS New Delhi on August 2.
In the purported video, the girl can be heard saying that three unidentified youths with their faces covered abducted her and set her on fire when she was returning home on July 19.
This was also the content of her mother’s FIR registered at Balanga Police Station on the same day. Her father also said, without elaborating, that his daughter was “under mental pressure and took her life”.
LiveMint could not independently verify the authenticity of the video.
Asserting that the statement in the video does not accurately represent her actual testimony, the police said it wanted to know who recorded the video and how it went to social media.
Check Mahindra Group’s complete statement here:
Mahindra Group statement read:
“We have been made aware of certain undignified and highly inappropriate messages allegedly made by one of our employees towards a political leader on Facebook.
Mahindra has zero tolerance for any form of misconduct, intimidation, or threats. The Mahindra Group has always enshrined the importance of human dignity from its very foundation and believes in upholding an environment of respect, with no tolerance for any breaches of these principles
We take this matter with utmost seriousness and have initiated an immediate investigation.
Should the allegations be validated, strict action will be taken in accordance with our code of conduct and values.”
Here’s how BJD MP Sulata Deo reacted to Mahindra’s statement:
Sharing Mahindra Group’s statement on X, Sulata Deo said it was “reassuring” to know that the company had started an investigation into the matter.
“That said, I will not remain silent and fight to the core against this type of mindset against women and children. Waiting for the law agencies to take suo motto cognisance of the said matter,” she added.
“India would be safer for women if the mindset against women were benign. Let’s fight against this malignancy,” the BJD MP wrote, while extending gratitude to social media users for their “tremendous support”.
She said that she would raise the issue in the ongoing monsoon session of Parliament and file a police complaint.