Yash Raj Films on Tuesday said it has sacked Ashish Patil, a top executive at the company, with immediate effect. The decision came in the wake of sexual harassment allegations against Patil, who served as the vice president of Brand Partnerships and Talent Management and business and creative head of Y-Films – the production house’s youth films division.

On October 12, the studio announced its intention to set up a formal investigation after a woman, who did not wish to be identified, alleged that Patil had demanded sexual favours from her after promising her acting assignments. Her unpleasant experience with Patil drove her to give up her acting plans, the woman had said.

Advertisement

Patil had called the allegations “untrue, fabricated and extremely defamatory”, according to The Hindu.

Yash Raj Films, however, put out a statement saying they had “taken the survivors account very seriously” and urged her to write to their Internal Complaints Committee. But the studio has not specified if the move to terminate Patil is linked to the outcome of this investigation.

Since October 5, several women since have levelled allegations of sexual harassment and misconduct against journalists, media professionals, actors, filmmakers and writers. Minister of State for External Affairs MJ Akbar is one of the prominent names accused of sexual harassment. On Monday, Akbar filed a defamation case against journalist Priya Ramani.

Advertisement

Similarly, actor Alok Nath has also filed a civil defamation suit against writer, director and producer Vinta Nanda for accusing him of rape. He has sought a written apology and compensation of Re 1.

Among the other prominent names in Bollywood who have been accused of harassment are actors Nana Patekar and Rajat Kapoor, filmmakers Sajid Khan, Vikas Bahl, Luv Ranjan and Subhash Ghai . (Read the details of these allegations and the responses of the accused here).