A woman sanitary worker attempted to kill her self on Tuesday after a driver working in the town panchayat of Irugur in Coimbatore sexually harassed her on multiple occasions. The Singanallur police have registered a complaint and arrested Raja Durai.

The 28-year-old woman, mother of two children, joined work as a sanitary staff since her husband lost his job during the lockdown. To ease the financial distress at home, the woman approached a contractor of a Self Help Group in Irugur village.  Soon, she got a job as a sanitary staff and started reporting to Raja Durai. The driver Raja Durai is a permanent employee of the town panchayat and was entrusted with the job of assigning work for the people.

“Initially, Raja Durai told the woman to collect Rs 100 as fine from the people roaming without a mask. One day, Raja Durai made the woman work for an extra hour and told her he will drop her at home in a car. On the way, he harassed her and she had to escape after an ordeal,” a family member said.

They also said the woman informed the contractor that she cannot work under Raja Durai. Soon, the contractor assigned her the job of collecting garbage from a street.

"She then started to collect garbage from door to door and was shocked to find Raja Durai in one of the homes. Once again Raja Durai made advances and attempted to harass her. She ran back to her home and attempted to kill self. Her sister who came home saw her faint and rescued her,” the relative said.