The Mumbai Police on Thursday told a court in Andheri that they have not found any evidence against actor Nana Patekar, who was accused of sexual harassment by actor Tanushree Dutta last year, ANI reported.
“The B Summary report has been submitted before the concerned court,” Shailesh Pasalwar, senior inspector at the Oshiwara police station, told Mid-day. It means the police have not found any evidence against the accused to file a chargesheet and seek trial.
Dutta’s lawyer Nitin Satpute, however, said he had not received any official communication from the police. “We will challenge the closure report,” he told Times Now.
In October 2018, Dutta had filed a first information report against Patekar for allegedly molesting her on the sets of the movie Horn ‘Ok’ Pleassss in 2008. The FIR also named choreographer Ganesh Acharya, producer Samee Siddhiqui and director Rakesh Sarang.
In her complaint, Dutta alleged Acharya had introduced 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 had attacked her car while she and her father were inside it. A first information report was registered at Goregaon police station at the time.
Dutta questioned the rush shown by police to file a B Summary report. “Our witnesses have been silenced by intimidation and fake witnesses have been put forth to weaken the case,” PTI quoted fro Dutta’s statement on Thursday. “What was the rush to file a B summary report when all of my witnesses have not even recorded their statements yet? I’m neither shocked nor surprised, being a woman in India this is something we all have got used to.”
After the allegations surfaced, Patekar sent a legal notice to Dutta, asking her to apologise for making false claims. She also received a notice from director Vivek Agnihotri, who had allegedly asked her to take her clothes off and dance to give co-star Irrfan Khan his cues during the shooting of Chocolate. The movie released in 2005.
Dutta on Thursday claimed that it must not have been difficult for Patekar to “buy himself” a clean chit when actor Alok Nath, who has been accused of rape by writer-director Vinta Nanda, is still acting in films.
She urged the public to watch the video of her car being “mercilessly attacked” while she and her family tried to escape from the set of Horn Ok Pleasse 10 years ago. “After this if you still decide to watch their movies and support then it’s your bad karma,” she said, while adding that she hoped never to face such “toxicity” again in life.
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