Mumbai: Actor Tanushree Dutta files FIR against Nana Patekar and three others
The complaint also named choreographer Ganesh Acharya, producer Samee Siddhiqui and director Rakesh Sarang.
Actor Tanushree Dutta on Wednesday night filed a first information report against Bollywood veteran Nana Patekar for allegedly molesting her on the sets of a movie in 2008, reported PTI. The FIR also names choreographer Ganesh Acharya, producer Samee Siddhiqui and director Rakesh Sarang.
“We have registered a case against Patekar and others under section 354 [assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty] and 509 [word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman] of the IPC [Indian Penal Code],” Additional Commissioner of Police (West Region) Manojkumar Sharma told PTI. However, no arrest has been made so far.
Dutta recorded her statement at Mumbai’s Oshiwara police station days after submitting a written complaint asking that a case of molestation and sexual harassment be filed against the four accused. The FIR was filed after the police questioned her for about five hours, reported India Today.
In her complaint on Wednesday, she has accused Patekar of inappropriate behaviour on the sets of the film Horn ‘Ok’ Pleassss in 2008. Acharya is accused of introducing new steps into a song to include Patekar, who was originally not a part of it. She also alleged that upon Patekar’s request, men backed by the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena attacked her car while she and her father were inside it. An FIR was registered at Goregaon police station at that time.
The police said the sequence of events mentioned in Dutta’s complaint will be verified, reported The Indian Express. “We are investigating the case and enquiries are on with this regard,” said ACP Sharma.
Patekar has refused to answer questions, saying that his lawyer has advised him to not speak to television channels. Last week, he sent a legal notice to Dutta, asking her to apologise for making false claims. She has also received a notice from director Vivek Agnihotri, who allegedly asked her to take her clothes off and dance to give co-star Irrfan Khan his cues while they were shooting for Chocolate. The movie released in 2005.