Sports Academy coach arrested for sexual harassment, remanded in custody

Chennai: The Chennai police late has arrested a head coach of a private sports academy for sexually harassing girls who were involved in athletics training with him.

Acting on a complaint from a 19-year-old girl, who was allegedly sexually harassed by him, the All Women Police Station, Flower Bazaar, booked cases against him under five sections of the IPC and under the POCSO Act, though the coach denied the charges.

Fearing arrest, the coach, P.Nagarajan (59), swallowed sleeping pills in an apparent suicide bid and was admitted to Government Royapettah Hospital yesterday.

After his discharge, he was produced before a Magistrate on Sunday and remanded in judicial custody till June 11.

When allegations of sexual harassment by his former trainees surfaced on social media, the 19-year-old girl, who was also one of the victims, lodged the complaint.

She said she was trained by him between 2013-2020. She alleged that on many occasions, the coach had asked the other girls to leave after the training session and asked her to stay back.

In her complaint, she said Nagarajan, under the guise of providing physiotherapy, had allegedly touched her inappropriately.

When she resisted his advances, he stopped training her and also threatened to murder her and her family members if she created any trouble or complained to any one, she said.

The arrest of the sports academy coach comes close on the heels of the arrest of a teacher of PSBB school for sexually harassing girl students. (UNI)