Tata Consultancy Services MD and CEO K Krithivasan issued a formal public statement on Saturday on the Nashik sexual harassment and alleged forced religious conversion case, announcing the appointment of Deloitte and law firm Trilegal as independent counsel to the internal investigation, the constitution of an Oversight Committee chaired by Independent Director Keki Mistry, and placing three specific factual clarifications on record that directly address narrative elements that have been circulating in media coverage of the case.
The statement, signed by Krithivasan in his capacity as MD and CEO, represents the most senior and detailed corporate communication TCS has issued since the case came to public attention.
The Three Actions TCS Has Taken
The statement outlines three concrete steps the company has set in motion in response to the Nashik matter.
First, TCS has engaged Deloitte and prominent law firm Trilegal as independent counsel to support the internal investigation being led by President and COO Aarthi Subramanian. The appointment of two external, independent advisory entities — one of the world’s largest professional services firms and a leading Indian law firm — signals that TCS is treating the investigation as a matter requiring external expertise and independence rather than relying solely on internal processes, which themselves are under scrutiny in this case.
Second, an Oversight Committee has been constituted, chaired by Keki Mistry, an Independent Director of TCS. The committee will receive the findings of the internal investigation and be responsible for reviewing those findings and implementing any recommendations that emerge. Mistry’s role as an independent director — not an executive — is significant, as it places oversight of the investigation’s conclusions outside the direct management chain of the company.
Third, the findings of the internal investigation will be formally presented to this Oversight Committee before any recommendations are acted upon, creating a structured governance process around the investigation’s conclusions.
The Three Factual Clarifications
Alongside the governance actions, Krithivasan’s statement places three specific facts on record — each of which addresses a claim or characterisation that has featured prominently in media coverage of the Nashik case.
On Nida Khan: The statement clarifies that Nida Khan, who has been repeatedly described in press reports as an HR manager of TCS, is neither an HR manager nor responsible for recruitment. The company states she served as a process associate and did not hold any leadership responsibilities. This is a material clarification given that the framing of an HR manager being among the arrested has been central to the narrative around the failure of TCS’s internal grievance mechanisms.
On the Nashik unit’s operational status: The statement explicitly denies reports in the press that the Nashik unit has been shut down, calling such reports “absolutely untrue” and confirming the unit continues to operate and serve clients.
On the POSH and ethics channels: TCS states that a preliminary review of systems and records pertaining to the Nashik unit indicates that no complaints of the nature being alleged were received on either its ethics or POSH channels. The company has been careful to note that detailed reviews are still underway, making this a preliminary rather than conclusive finding — but the assertion that the company’s formal grievance systems show no record of the alleged complaints is a significant point that will be examined closely by the NCW fact-finding committee visiting the facility today and by the SIT investigation.
What the Statement Does and Does Not Say
The statement is careful in its language and deliberately structured. It does not deny that the arrested individuals worked at TCS’s Nashik facility. It does not contest the police investigation, the FIRs, or the arrests. It expresses full cooperation with law enforcement and commits to the investigation being thorough, transparent and brought to a rightful conclusion.
What it does is establish an independent governance framework around TCS’s own internal investigation, correct specific factual characterisations around Nida Khan’s role, deny the shutdown reports, and note the preliminary finding on the POSH channel record — while explicitly acknowledging that detailed reviews are still ongoing.
The combination of Deloitte, Trilegal, and an Independent Director-chaired Oversight Committee represents a level of external accountability infrastructure that goes beyond what most corporate responses to workplace misconduct cases in India have deployed. Whether that infrastructure delivers findings that are credible to the NCW, the SIT, the eight complainants and the broader public will be the measure of TCS’s response to this crisis.
The NCW fact-finding committee — comprising retired Bombay High Court Justice Sadhna Jadhav, former Haryana DGP B K Sinha, Supreme Court advocate Monika Arora, and NCW Senior Coordinator Lilabati — visits the Nashik facility today, April 18. Its report is due within 10 working days.
Disclaimer: This article is based on TCS’s official public statement and published news reports. All accused are entitled to due process and are presumed innocent until proven guilty by a competent court of law.