Bhushan Kumar accused of sexual harassment

Bhushan Kumar has issued a statement denying allegations of trading roles for sexual favours on Friday. Earlier in the day, an unnamed woman had claimed on Twitter that Kumar had called her to a bungalow for a three film deal and threatened to destroy her career if she refused. “I was new and I was scared, very scared!! The next day i got to know that i was dropped from the film bcoz i had refused to sleep with the ‘boss’,” says the anonymous account.

As part of India’s #MeToo movement, a number of Bollywood celebs have been named by women as sexual predators. T-Series also dropped Subhash Kapoor as the director of its upcoming film, Mogul, earlier this week after an old molestation allegation levelled by actor Girtika Tyagi resurfaced.

Bhushan Kumar denied the allegation in a statement issued to PTI, which reads, “I am appalled and anguished to know that my name has been dragged in this metoo by some anonymous person(s). The allegations against me are bad on the face of it. I have enjoyed an impeccable reputation and have always maintained professionalism. The tweet has been used as a tool to defame me and malign my reputation. I have taken this allegation very seriously and lodging a complaint with the cyber cell of the Mumbai Police to track the mysterious people(s) whose twitter handles have disappeared within seconds of uploading the malicious tweet. I’ll take all such actions as I will be legally advised.”

Aamir Khan recently left Mogul, a T-Series’ production which is based on the life of Kumar’s father, Gulshan Kumar. Khan’s decision to walk away from the film came in the wake of an earlier allegation of sexual harassment against Kapoor. As #MeToo gained momentum, Kapoor was dropped as the director by Kumar as well.