TV producer held for ‘raping’ actress

Mumbai, Jan 26: The Powai police on Friday arrested a former television executive producer of a production house for allegedly sexually assaulting a 28-year-old TV serial actress who works under the same banner on December 2. The victim, though, lodged the complaint only on Wednesday - a month and a half after the alleged crime. The actress said she did not lodge the complaint initially fearing stigma. She filed a complaint after he allegedly started making threatening calls after the production house sacked him based on her husband's complaint.

The police said both the complainant and the suspect have undergone medical examination to ascertain the veracity of the complaint.

Powai police senior inspector Bajirao Bhosale said Friday that the suspect was arrested and booked under sections 342 (wrongful confinement), 376 (rape) and 506 (II) (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code. "The suspect claimed that he was in a relationship with the actress, but was not ready to cooperate and revealed very little about the incident," said Bhosale.

The victim told her husband about the alleged sexual assault four days after it reportedly took place in a makeup room of Katharsis Studios, Powai. In her complaint, she said, "Around 6.30am, the executive producer called me and said my shoot was scheduled at 7.30am. He asked me to reach Jogeshwari railway station as soon as possible, as a bus was scheduled to pick me up there."

She added, "He called me at least three to four times till I reached Jogeshwari. Around 7.45am, I reached the station and checked for the bus. Instead, I saw him waiting on his bike. I refused to travel with him and said I will take an autorickshaw. But he forced me to accompany him on the bike."

When a news paper tried to contact the actress and her husband, they sent an SMS saying they were on their way to Gwalior.

Jameel Khan, the show's supervising producer, said, "The allegations are baseless. We sacked the employee immediately after her husband complained to our producer. I have the call sheet and her signature of entry and exit from the studio. She shot the entire day and the time she has alleged the incident took place, there were about 20 people from the production house. No one heard of anything. She should've immediately complained, which she didn't.''

A police officer, though, said, "The accused asked her to go to makeup room number 2 and started assigning work to the ground staff. A few minutes later, he entered the room and raped her. He warned the victim that if she raised her voice, she would kill her and her daughter."

Khan said, "The actor and her husband are only trying to gain publicity. I can tell you one thing nothing happened on our set."