Coimbatore : A small time actress, Sruthi, and accused in a cheating case, today said she was ‘ sexually harassed by police in the name of interrogation’. She had amassed money and gold ornaments from prospective grooms under the pretext of marrying them, She, along with her parents and brother, was arrested after complaints from youths of being cheated to the tune of Rs 1.42 crore and gold ornaments worth Rs 40 lakh in the pretext of marriage in January last. She is lodged in the Central Jail here.

It was alleged that she used to contact the grooms through matrimonial columns.

Coming out of jail after being granted condition bail, Sruthi alleged that false cases had been foisted against her and her mother and they had not cheated anybody and took money from them on the promise of marriage.

She alleged that crime branch officials, during the seven-day custody, “without allowing us to open our mouth, wrote in the paper as if we have confessed to it”.

Claiming that she was slapped and stripped, which was videographed by a woman police, Sruthi alleged that the officials threatened to post them in social media and spoil her future.

The officials also told that they could save her if she compromised with senior officials, she alleged, adding that during investigation some policemen “sexually tortured” her.

Sruthi said she had already submitted a petition in this regard in court.