Mumbai: The Mumbai police issued a clean chit to renowned Bollywood film director Subhash Ghai on Thursday in connection with the molestation allegations levelled against him by a model. The police held that allegations against Ghai were fabricated.
In October, when the #Me Too campaign was in full swing in India, a model and aspirant actress Kate Sharma accused the 73-year-old director of trying to forcibly kiss and hug her after calling her over to his house. Ghai denied all the allegations and issued a statement, saying that he has always respected the women in his life and at the workplace.
In its closure report, the Mumbai Police stated that nothing was found during the course of investigation against Ghai and therefore it was closing the case.
Ghai’s PR team issued an official statement, which read, “After police made many efforts to call Kate Sharma to the police station, she appeared at the police station only on October 22, with a request to postpone her application. Then she reappeared on November 14 at the police station to withdraw her application against Ghai and made a statement saying that she does not want to pursue the case further for personal reasons.”
This was the second #MeToo allegation against the veteran filmmaker. In the first instance, an anonymous woman had accused Ghai of drugging and raping her.
Writer Mahima Kukreja had shared screenshots of a private conversation on Twitter with the alleged victim, who told her that she was molested when she was ‘working with Subhash Ghai on a film’. During a conversation with her, the victim said, “He took me to Fariyas Hotel. He said he went there regularly to write and that they always had a suite available for him. I was wobbly, but he held me and took me to the suite. He took off my jeans and mounted me. I was trying to scream but he put his hand over my mouth. I was also not very lucid because of the drug in my drink. So I cried and passed out.”
In the wake of the #MeToo movement, which gained momentum in India after Tanushree Dutta accused veteran actor Nata Patekar of harassing her, accusations have been levelled against many personalities in media and the entertainment industry.
