Shiva Nandy responds to allegations

A day after damning revelations from former Skyesports employee Mrinal “Jollies” Baranwal, about her time at Skyesports and the alleged inappropriate behaviour faced by her from the senior management at Skyesports, Skyesports' CEO and Founder Shiva Nandy has shared his side of the story. Nandy has put forward his side to each point of allegation made by Jollies.

Regarding Jollies' statement about Nandy sharing a room with another employee of Skyesports during an event, Nandy states that it is 'far from the truth and an attempt to malign my character.' He states that there was no sharing of room or 'any other kind of relationship' and because the other employee was needed to be at the same hotel as Nandy for 'better coordination', Skyesports shifted her to the same hotel where Nandy was at, which was also the event venue. He also reveals that with the employee moving into his room, he shifted to another room with another male colleague.

He mentions that Jollies would have come across the room records as part of her job responsibility and misunderstood the situation and spread rumours about an affair between Nandy and the other female employee. Nandy also says that when he was made aware of the rumours he had a one-on-one meeting with Jollies where he reprimanded her.

His response to the drinking incident, where Jollies mentions that Shiva came to her room to drink with her, he states that it was her who had asked Nandy if he drinks or not after seeing him with a bottle of alcohol, which he picked up from the duty-free section at the airport. Nandy told Jollies he was an occasional drinker and mutually agreed to meet that evening which led to them going to her room to drink. They spoke about her career plans amongst other things and he says that she never told him that she felt uncomfortable in that situation.

Nandy reveals that in hindsight it wasn't the ideal decision to meet her in her room rather a public place would have been better but he did not intend to make her uncomfortable, something which she never mentioned to him when he was there in the room or afterwards or to her supervisors or the HR. Nandy also states that he never felt upset because she did not open up to her, something which Jollies mentioned she was told by Nandy's colleague Vijay Krishnan, Head of Esports at Skyesports. Nandy additionally also writes about how there is not a formal setting at the Skyesports camp because he wanted the office culture to be 'more relaxed and jovial.'

Jollies had also accused Nandy of inappropriately touching her, despite her not reciprocating it to which Nandy reveals that he possibly did lend her a shoulder to give 'her confidence' during a moment where Jollies was very upset and crying. He does say that he might have patted her head but it was not with any sexual intentions or in any way perverse. He mentions that he saw her as 'a sister or a close friend' and was consoling her like an elder brother or mentor.

He also talks about how the matter was brought up officially when Jollies mentioned her discomfort with the incident which led to POSH seminars being held where Nandy and the Skyesports team were told to be more formal with each other.

I may be an emotional businessman, but that does not make me a predator.

Nandy speaks out about the accusations against him

Finally, Nandy spoke about Jollies' relationship with Ms. Ananya Sadhak, who also made allegation claims against Skyesports. Nandy reveals that Sadhak and Jollies were roommates in Chennai and Sadhak was with Skyesports as a social media content creator between March - October 2024. He reveals that her tenure was 'uneventful performance-wise' and states that Jollies 'seems to have motivated' her to take part in the expose of Skyesports.

Priyanka 'Alexa' Chaudhary', who also is an ex-employee of Skyesports had also shared an incident of inappropriate touching from the senior management at Skyesports, had her claims responded to by Nandy as well, where he states that her post seemed 'to be a complete afterthought or motivated'.

Additionally, Nandy has shared documents about Jollies' performance review and one about Sadhak's professional conduct and possibly where Sadhak could have been working with her previous organisation whilst serving her notice period with Skyesports. Nandy also shared a direct message to all, stating that he doesn't intend to malign any of his ex-colleagues and has taken the painful allegations as a 'lesson in the life on an entrepreneur.'

The detailed response from Shiva Nandy about the allegations against him can be found here.