Kerala honey trap case: Victim now becomes accused as woman claims harassment

A week after accusing a former employee of blackmail, Litmus7 CEO Venu Gopalakrishnan now faces a sexual harassment case filed by the same woman, leading to parallel investigations in Kochi.

Kochi: A week after a top IT executive filed a complaint against his former employee and her husband for allegedly blackmailing and threatening him for a substantial sum of money, a case was registered against him on Tuesday following a counter-complaint by the woman, accusing him of sexual harassment.

This fresh development comes just a week after a local court granted bail to the Kochi-based couple, only hours after they were taken into custody by the Ernakulam Central Police.

---

The duo, identified as Krishna Raj and his wife, allegedly blackmailed and trapped Venu Gopalakrishnan — the CEO of Litmus7, a leading IT firm based in the Infopark campus — forcing him to transfer Rs 50,000 into their bank account.

According to Gopalakrishnan’s complaint, the couple also coerced him into signing two cheques of Rs 10 crore each in their names.

The woman had been employed at his firm but had recently resigned.

Following her resignation, the couple allegedly plotted to fabricate a false case and began threatening the businessman, demanding Rs 30 crore. They warned that if he failed to pay, she would accuse him of being in an extramarital relationship with her and of sexually assaulting her.

Based on Gopalakrishnan’s complaint, the couple was arrested on July 30. However, they were granted bail later the same day.

The latest development came on Tuesday, when the Kochi police registered a case against Gopalakrishnan following the woman’s complaint, accusing him of sexual harassment and issuing threats.

In her complaint, she stated that it was only after she expressed her intention to file a complaint against Gopalakrishnan with the internal complaints committee of the IT firm that he allegedly framed them in a false honey trap case.

With a case now registered against Gopalakrishnan, alongside the ongoing investigation into the couple, the two separate probe teams are reportedly considering a coordinated approach to move the investigations forward.