Tanushree Dutta has issued a statement to quash rumours that Nana Patekar has been given a clean chit by the Mumbai Police in the case of sexual harassment that the actor filed against him in October last year. She alleged that the rumours are a publicity stunt on behalf of Patekar’s entourage in an attempt to rectify his image since opportunities in Bollywood have dried up in the wake of the accusations that sparked India’s #MeToo movement.
Urging the media to refrain from spreading misinformation, Tanushree said, “There is a false rumour floating in the Media that Nana Patekar has been given clean chit by [the] police in harrassment case. I wish to clarify that the Mumbai police have given no such statement and that the investigation on the matter is still ongoing as confirmed by my advocate Nitin Satpute and the Mumbai Police. Mr Satpute will be holding a press conference on my behalf in Mumbai very soon and give clarity on the proceedings of the case.”
In her statement, Tanushree also claimed that the investigation has been slowed down as several witnesses have been unable to record their statements following repeated threats from people associated with Patekar and that false witnesses have been presented to the police to derail the proceedings.
In October 2018, Tanushree Dutta outed Nana Patekar for harassing her on the sets of their 2008 film Horn Ok Pleassss. She offered a detailed account of the incident in an interview with Zoom TV, saying that Patekar attempted to touch her inappropriately and insisted on shooting an intimate song sequence in the film, though it was not mentioned in her contract. She said that the director Rakesh Sarang, producer Sami Siddiqui and choreographer Ganesh Acharya paid no heed when she voiced her concerns.
Tanushree went on to describe how her car was vandalised on the film set following the incident. She claimed that Nana Patekar “called up this political party who has a reputation of vandalism and causing damages on the sets. And the producers called up the media to gain publicity from the whole situation” She was allegedly able to leave the premises only when the police intervened.
“I still have hope that no matter how long it takes I can expect to see Nana Patekar, choreographer Ganesh Acharya, producer Sami Siddique and director Rakesh Sawant behind bars for orchestrating the harassment and mob attack on me and my family in our car. How can the cops give a clean chit to one person when my FIR was filed against four people?” she wrote.
“I stayed away from the industry because of the trauma of the mob attack, the harassment and the public humiliation you put me through, I will not let you get off the hook so easily,” she added.
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