Bhubaneswar: Arrested web channel editor Sudhansu Sekhar Rout on Saturday threatened to destroy Dutee Chand while being taken to court after a medical examination at Capital Hospital here.
“I will destroy her if she does not return to her parents,” he told mediapersons.
Rout was arrested on Friday, two days after the Olympian lodged a complaint against him at Mahila Police Station here, accusing the Odia news web channel of carrying defamatory content about her. She alleged that Rout had demanded money from her for not airing an interview in which her family members reportedly spoke about their personal issues with her. This had an adverse impact on her performance during the recently-concluded Tokyo Olympics, she claimed.
Speaking to Odisha Bytes, the ace sprinter said Rout had been harassing her for the last one month. “He has been maligning my image because of which I had to approach the police and the court. By threatening me, he has proved that he is not a journalist but a criminal,” she said.
Dutee further said she received a message on the evening of July 29 from a reporter of the web channel Smruti Ranjan Behera, a day before the women’s 100m Round 1 Heats at Tokyo. “It had a negative impact on me. I felt stressed out thinking about what would people say if such a story is published at this juncture. I wanted to focus on the race and so asked them to wait till the event got over. I assured them that I would respond to all their questions,” she said.
The 25-year-old alleged that Behera continued to send her videos, which made her nervous and impacted her performance. “I had created a new national record before leaving for Tokyo, but then I failed to match that performance. And it broke me from inside,” she said.
She said Smruti then tried to negotiate a deal with her. “He later apologised to me but Rout continued to malign my image by badmouthing me,” she added.
The web channel also reportedly made an obscene post naming Dutee on a social media platform.
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