KUALA LUMPUR – Another police report has been lodged against the two individuals who were charged in relation to cyberbullying which led to the death of Rajeswary Appahu in July, the TikTok influencer who was better known as Esha.
The two, B. Sathiskumar and Shalini Periasamy, were referred to by their TikTok account handles Dulal Brothers and AlphaQuinnSha, respectively, in a September 30 police report lodged by Hemalatha Subramaniam at the Bukit Jalil police station.
According to the report sighted by Scoop, Hemalatha, who is also known as Swashna, claimed the duo had caused her emotional distress by insulting her and her family members with vulgar remarks during their TikTok live sessions in which they had also made hateful remarks against Rajeswary.
Hemalatha, who referred to herself as Rajeswary’s friend, said in her report that she was informed by a friend on June 30 and July 1 that her photo was used in a TikTok live session in Tamil hosted by Dulal Brothers. In the session, the account owner made rape and death threats against her and Rajeswary, while also showing a photo of both women together.
Hemalatha claimed that the Dulal Brothers account owner had called her a “prostitute”, told her to remove her clothing to display her body online and asked her to touch his private areas, while also accusing her of cheating on her husband.
The account owner is also said to have threatened to harm Hemalatha and Rajeswary with a threat to step on their genitals with safety boots.
Shalini, meanwhile, had issued threatening statements in her TikTok live session on July 1, during which she called Hemalatha “homeless” while expressing her intent to slap Hemalatha and her mother, the police report said.
“At the time of the incidents and when Esha committed suicide, I was working in India (and) was unable to take leave to return to Malaysia to file a police report.
“When I was in India, I was contacted by (an officer from) the Sentul district police headquarters for my statement to be recorded regarding the cyberbullying against Esha and myself,” Hemalatha added in her report.
On September 25, lorry driver Sathishkumar was sentenced to 12 months’ imprisonment after pleading guilty to two charges linked to Rajeswary’s death.
One charge, framed under Section 233 of the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998, accused Sathiskumar of issuing obscene comments against Rajeswary using the TikTok account @dulal_brothers_360 on June 30.
The second charge, made under Section 509 of the Penal Code for intentionally insulting the modesty of a person, accused him of insulting the influencer’s mother, R. Puspa, on the same date.
On July 18, Shalini was charged for making insulting remarks towards Puspa and Rajeswary, and fined a mere RM100 after pleading guilty under Section 14 of the Minor Offences Act 1955.
Rajeswary was found dead in her Setapak home on July 5. A month prior, she had lodged a report at the Dang Wangi police headquarters, detailing the violent threats made against her on social media.
On July 12, her mother lodged a police report stating that TikTok users had continued to make disparaging remarks about her daughter despite her death. – October 19, 2024
