The Chennai Police on Saturday booked Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad National President Dr Subbiah Shanmugam for allegedly harassing a woman, The Indian Express reported. However, in a statement issued late at night, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh-linked student group claimed that the woman’s nephew, Balaji Vijayaraghavan, had withdrawn the complaint.

“Misunderstandings between two families now stand cleared, and all issues between the two parties have now resolved,” the ABVP claimed.

But Vijayaraghavan said the complaint had not been technically withdrawn, though he acknowledged that the family held talks with the ABVP. “An FIR [first information report] has been filed and legal procedures have to follow,” he said. “We want police to look at evidence which were portrayed as false by the accused. He added that during the legal process, the family may think of formally withdrawing the complaint, as Shanmugam is a doctor whose services are needed in the time of the coronavirus pandemic.

The woman had accused Shanmugam of urinating at her doorstep, throwing used face masks and garbage, after a disagreement over parking slots at a housing society in Nanganallur area.

According to her family, the woman had asked Shanmugam to pay a fee of Rs 1,500 a month in January for using her parking space. On July 11, the family went to Adambakkam police station to file a complaint along with the CCTV footage that purportedly shows the ABVP leader throwing garbage and urinating at her door. At the time, the police did not file an FIR.

But Bala, a police officer at the Adambakkam police station, claimed that the woman initially did not want to file a complaint, NDTV reported. “The woman did not want the FIR and did not want details made public,” he said. “She has told us about a compromise being worked out.”

Shanmugam, who is a surgical oncologist at the Kilpauk Medical College, has denied the allegations and claimed that the CCTV footage was doctored. “That is not me,” he added. “Someone is manipulating the situation. This is a social media trial. I never put any waste on their door or harassed my neighbour in any way.”