A Calcuttan now based in Boston has accused an elderly hotshot steel executive, her co-passenger on an Etihad Airways flight from Calcutta to Abu Dhabi, of “showing porn” and “groping” her on the flight.

The complainant, Ananya Chhaochharia, shared her harrowing experience in a post on X. Metro is identifying her because she herself posted her ordeal on X.

The accused, Dinesh Saraogi, is the CEO of Vulcan Green Steel, a firm of the
Jindal Steel Group that is setting up a green steel plant in Oman.

The woman told this newspaper over the phone on Friday that she could identify him because he had shared his business card with her after introducing himself.

Chhaochharia, originally from Calcutta, is now based in Boston. The incident, she said, happened on July 16 on her way to Boston from Calcutta through Abu Dhabi.

“Sharing an incident that happened with me on the flight from Calcutta to Abu Dhabi (transit to Boston). I am very grateful to the staff of Etihad and the Abu Dhabi police for the support they provided me. I was seated next to an industrialist (Dinesh Kr. Saraogi, CEO of Jindal Steel),” Chhaochharia wrote on X.

“The conversation moved to what my hobbies are. He asked if I enjoyed watching movies & I was like of course. He then proceeds to tell me he has some movie clips on his phone. He whips out his phone and earphones to show me PORN!,” she wrote.

”He started groping me. I was frozen in shock and scared. I eventually ran off to the washroom and complained to the air staff. Thankfully the Etihad team was very proactive and took action immediately....”

Chhaochharia graduated in May 2024 with a master’s in public policy from Harvard Kennedy School, Harvard University. She told Metro she was looking forward to working in Washington DC as a public policy professional from August.

”While standing in the queue to board the Abu Dhabi flight from Calcutta on July 16 night, I had the first interaction with this man. It so happened that both of us sat next to each other in the business class. He was sitting on the window seat and I had taken the aisle seat. We had a very normal conversation like where he is from,” she told this newspaper. The conversation, she said, lasted for about an hour.

“When he asked me about movies, I said I like well-made movies. The man said he had a few movie clips. I had a Bluetooth earphone and the man had a wired earphone which he gave me. Then I saw those were porn videos,” she recounted.

“I was taken aback. My body’s first reaction was to freeze. Then he started touching me. I immediately stood up and went to the washroom. I sat at the cabin crew seat till landing. During landing, I was given another seat in the business class.”

The Etihad Airways staff had called the police, she said.

“After coming out ofthe aircraft, two policemen heard me out politely. It was 1am and my connecting flight to Boston was at 3am. I was travelling alone and wanted to get back to Boston and so did not file a complaint,” shesaid.

Chhaochharia reached Boston on July 17. She spoke to family members and decided to write about it on X.

“I will be doing a disservice to who I am if I don’t speakup. I have nothing to be ashamed of. I am not scared of negative publicity till the time some action is taken,” she said.

The woman has also sent a complaint to the Bidhannagar Police Commissionerate in Calcutta by email.

In her post, she sought the intervention of Naveen Jindal, the promoter of Jindal Steel Group.

“I am working to get this incident out to the chairman of Jindal Steel @MPNaveenJindal so that he is aware of the kind of people who are in leadership. I am also afraid of how this molester must be treating his female employees from a place of power,” Chhaochharia wrote on X.

Jindal recently became an MP on a BJP ticket after cutting long-standing ties with the Congress just before the Lok Sabha polls.

Jindal took to X for damage control. “Dear Ananya, thank you for reaching out and speaking up! It takes a lot of courage to do what you did and i want you to know that we have a zero tolerance policy for such matters. I have asked the team to immediately investigate the matter and thereafter strictest and necessary action will be taken.”

An official of the Jindal Steel Group said the ethics committee of Vulcan Green Steel was looking into the complaints.

Vulcan Green Steel is part of the Jindal Steel Group, whose flagship company is Jindal Steel Power Limited (JSPL), a listed companyin India.

However, JSPL is not associated with Vulcan, which is setting up a 5MT steel plantin Oman.

Jindal Steel & Power Ltd said in a regulatory filing that Dinesh Kumar Saraogi had resigned from his position as director of the company, effective from the close of business hours of March 28, 2023.

Metro sent WhatsApp messages and emails to an Etihad Airways spokesperson and its media communications team. “Thank you for your Email. We will come back to you in case of any response from the brand,” Etihad replied on Friday evening.