Bollywood actor Tanushree Dutta's sexual harassment case is making progress as police have begun probing the matter.
According to the Mumbai Mirror, Oshiwara police recently recorded the statements of Sudhir Pandey, the then committee member of Cine & TV Artistes’ Association (CINTAA) who handled the complaint filed by Tanushree against actor Nana Patekar, Horn OK Pleassss producer Sameer Siddiquee, director Rakesh Sarang and choreographer Ganesh Acharya.
“The process of sending summons to the others is being followed,” Mumbai Mirror quoted a source as saying.
A police official further said that since it’s a 10-year-old case, they are first recording the statements of those immediately approached by the actor following the incident on the sets of the film. “The statements of those named in the FIR will also be recorded once the investigation progresses and videos of what happened behind the scenes will be recovered,” the source added.
Meanwhile, Pandey told Mumbai Mirror, “I’ve provided the cops with the facts of the case and minutes of the meeting between the complainant and the party in which the issue of sexual harassment was raised. Since the complainant had also lodged a police complaint, we followed the standard procedure.”
In her complaint to CINTAA in 2008, Tanushree had stated she was approached for a song and was not interested initially but agreed later after constant persuasion and negotiations on terms and conditions.
“However, when I started shooting the song, a situation completely unexpected came up. Senior artist and veteran Nana Patekar who also had a part to play in the song, came up with a behaviour unaccepted... Initially, I took it as senior friendly advice, and despite the fact that it was disturbing my flow of work, I chose to be silent about it but soon it became annoying. Hoping to get out of a tricky situation without causing insult to senior artist Nana Patekar, I decided to approach the matter discreetly. I requested the director to pass on the message certainly and effectively to Mr Patekar that I do not appreciate his behaviour towards me... Despite my efforts nothing changed...” she had said.
Last month, former Miss Universe contestant Dutta said she was sexually harassed by multi-award-winning Bollywood star Nana Patekar during the filming of the romantic comedy "Horn Ok Pleassss" in 2008. Dutta first made the allegations ten years ago after walking off the set.
She repeated the claim during a recent interview, also alleging that filmmaker Vivek Agnihotri had behaved inappropriately towards her during the shooting of the 2005 movie "Chocolate: Deep Dark Secrets". Patekar and Agnihotri both deny the claims.