Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar’s civic administration has opened a parallel front against AIMIM corporator Matin Patel, issuing notices over alleged illegal construction at properties linked to him after police accused him of sheltering Nida Khan, a wanted accused in the Nashik TCS sexual harassment and religious coercion case.The action has placed Patel under scrutiny on two fronts: a criminal probe into whether he helped Khan evade arrest and a municipal inquiry into whether properties associated with him violated building and disclosure rules. One of the properties under examination is a two-storey bungalow in the Naregaon area, where Khan was arrested on May 7 after being absconding for several weeks. Police said she was staying there with four relatives.
Mayor Sameer Rajurkar has said any move to cancel Patel’s civic membership will follow verification of documents relating to the property. The municipal process is being examined under provisions that require elected representatives to make accurate declarations while filing nomination papers. Civic officials are also checking whether construction approvals, ownership records and disclosure details match the documents submitted by Patel.
Patel, an All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen corporator, has been booked for allegedly harbouring Khan and obstructing the legal process. Police claim his questioning helped them locate Khan in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar. The case has since acquired a political edge, with rival parties pressing for action against him and AIMIM facing pressure to respond to allegations involving one of its elected representatives.
Khan, a suspended employee of Tata Consultancy Services’ Nashik business process operations unit, is among several accused named in a widening investigation involving allegations of sexual harassment, intimidation, hurting religious sentiments and religious coercion. Police have registered nine FIRs connected to complaints from employees at the Nashik unit. The allegations include sexual exploitation under false promises of marriage, harassment by male colleagues, attempts to pressure employees over religious practices and failure by supervisory staff to act on complaints.
Seven accused had already been arrested before Khan was taken into custody. They include Danish Sheikh, Shafi Shaikh, Asif Ansari, Tausif Attar, Shahrukh Qureshi, Raza Memon and Ashwini Chainani. Khan was produced before a Nashik court after her arrest and was initially remanded to police custody until May 11. She has since been sent to judicial custody after investigators said custodial interrogation was no longer required.
The Nashik case has drawn wider attention after a National Commission for Women fact-finding team flagged what it described as a deeply unsafe workplace environment at the TCS facility. The panel found serious concerns over sexual harassment, abuse of authority, religious intimidation and alleged failures in compliance with the Prevention of Sexual Harassment framework. Its findings placed emphasis on the absence of effective redressal systems and the vulnerability of younger women employees at the workplace.
TCS has suspended employees named in the complaints and initiated an internal inquiry. The company, one of the country’s largest technology services firms, is facing questions over how complaints were handled, whether internal mechanisms were activated in time and whether managers failed to protect employees after concerns were raised. The Nashik unit’s internal complaints system is expected to remain central to both the police investigation and regulatory scrutiny.
The civic notice to Patel marks a distinct escalation because it shifts part of the fallout from the workplace case to municipal accountability. Officials are examining whether the Naregaon property and other structures linked to him were built without proper sanction. If illegalities are established, the corporation may proceed with demolition action, penalties or further proceedings affecting his status as an elected member.
Legal experts familiar with municipal governance say disqualification proceedings against a corporator require a documented basis and cannot rest only on political pressure or police allegations. The corporation would have to establish violations through records, notices, replies and statutory procedure. Patel would also be entitled to respond to allegations before any final civic order is passed.