 "L'affaire iGate: Phaneesh Murthy regrets, but sues company for lying")
Phaneesh Murthy, the twice disgraced IT executive, is all set to fight back.
iGate had sacked Murthy as CEO in May on sexual assault charges. He has now filed a case of defamation and breach of contract against the company, reports TheTimes of India today.
iGate had fired Murthy on the grounds that he had failed to report his relationship with the company’s investor relations head Araceli Roiz in time.
The lawsuit has been filed in a California court saying that iGate was aware of his ‘consensual relationship’ with Roiz.
[caption id=“attachment_814625” align=“alignright” width=“380”]  Would Murthy have got away if the case had taken place in India? Reuters[/caption]
In an interview to ToI, Murthy said, “iGate lied. I have a signed letter from an independent director (in iGate) saying that the Board all along knew about it, and therefore there was no need to inform.”
Roiz had alleged that she was pregnant with Murthy’s child and when Murthy discovered this, he pressured Roiz to have an abortion. When she refused, he reportedly told her to leave the company. iGate fired Murthy immediately.
The lawsuit points out that there have been a number of similar consensual relationships in iGate, but the company had not acted on any, barring Murthy’s.
In an earlier interview with TheSunday Times, Murthy also admitted that he regretted the affair.
“The mistake I made was in stepping out of my marriage. I have to work on my relationship at home, and that’s what I’m doing. We will see where that leads and that’s my priority number 1. And that’s the reason I haven’t accepted full-time employment anywhere,” he said.
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