T-Series managing director Bhushan Kumar booked for rape

The head of India’s biggest music label T-Series has been booked for rape, official sources said on Friday. The film production house issued a statement regarding the rape allegations levelled against its Chairman and Managing Director Bhushan Kumar.

The statement claims that the complaint filed against Kumar is “completely false and malicious”. It further states that the police complaint filed by the complainant is “nothing but a counterblast” to the complaint filed by T-Series on July 1 this year “against her and her accomplice for the offence of extortion”.

T-Series official statement reads, “The complaint filed against Mr Bhushan Kumar is completely false and malicious and the contents of the same are denied. It has been falsely alleged that the lady in question was sexually exploited between 2017 to 2020 on the pretext of giving her work.” It adds, “It is a matter of record that she has already worked for T-Series banner in Film and music videos.”

The post continued, “Around March 2021, she approached Mr Bhushan Kumar seeking help to fund one of the web-series which she wanted to produce, which was politely refused. Thereafter, in June 2021, after the lifting of lockdown in Maharashtra, she started approaching the T-Series banner in collusion with her accomplice demanding huge sum of money as an extortion amount.”

It concluded, “Consequently, a complaint was filled by T-Series banner against the attempted extortion with police at Amboli police station on July 1, 2021. We also have evidence in the form of audio recording for the extortion attempt and the same shall be provided to investigating agency. The present complaint filed by her is nothing but a counterblast to the complaint filed against her and her accomplice for the offence of extortion. We are in the process of consulting our lawyers in this regard and will take appropriate legal action.”

The Mumbai Police has registered an FIR filed by an aspiring model-cum-actor alleging she was raped by Kumar. According to an officer with the DN Nagar Police Station in Andheri, the 30-year-old victim has mentioned in the FIR that she was sexually exploited and repeatedly raped by him between 2017 and 2020 under the false pretext of giving her roles in films. With the Mumbai Police registering an FIR filed by the budding model against music baron Kumar, the ugly issue of casting couch has once again reared its head.

In the allegation against T-Series head honcho, however, the victim has chosen not to disclose her identity on social media or any other platform and has only filed a police complaint for now. Stories of casting couch surrounding powerful people in Bollywood are not new. The first prominent harassment case in Bollywood dates back to 2017 before actor Tanushree Dutta’s sexual harassment allegation against Nana Patekar in September 2018 kickstarted the #MeToo movement in India.

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Article source: https://tribune.com.pk/story/2311059/t-series-managing-director-bhushan-kumar-booked-for-rape