Producer Indhu alleges sexual harassment
The accused Shiva denies allegations, says he is being framed and charges actor Jai Akash of conspiracy
By : logesh balachandran
Update: 2014-10-31 23:29 GMT
Chennai: Producer and writer of the film Kadhalukku Kannillai, Indhu, 50, alleged that she had been sexually assaulted by Shiva, a middleman for theatre owners and distributors. According to Indhu, the incident took place in her car on the night of October 30 when she was travelling with Shiva to visit a few city theatres before the film’s release.
She alleged that Shiva, who had been flirting with her the past three weeks, attempted to assault her physically inside the car. She said she escaped by pushing him out of the car after hitting him on the face with her slipper.
Talking about the incident to DC, Indhu said, “I was introduced to Shiva a few months ago by Jai Akash, the lead actor. Even then he used to flirt with me, saying that I look beautiful even at the age of 50. I ignored all his comments as Akash said that we needed his help to get the film released as per schedule.
On October 30, Shiva and I went in my car to visit the city theaters to make sure that my film releases the next day. After some time, Shiva started to flirt with me, and kept his hand on my thigh. He, in fact, said that he is desperate to kiss me, just like one of the scenes in the film, where the hero has a romantic encounter inside the car. When he tried to kiss me, I hit him with my slipper and pushed him out of the car. His nose was injured in the process and that was when he threatened me saying he would stop the film’s release and left.”
Indhu says that the issue did not end there. She added that the next morning, on October 31, Shiva came to her house and requested her not to file a police complaint. “I asked him to leave and that was when he called again and told me that he had postponed the release of my film by a week. Except two top theatres, the film was not being screened anywhere. That’s when I finally made up my mind to lodge a complaint against him at the Neelankarai police station,” said Indhu