TVF

Arunabh

Muzaffarpur

Bihar

Sengupta

Aggarwal

Digital entertainment start-up The Viral Fever () CEOKumar(in pic) on Monday labeled “fake” allegations of sexual harassment against him made in an anonymous online post and said the company is in touch with the website to have the post removed.In the post on Medium, a New York-based free platform, the victim has alleged that Arunabh molested and harassed her for months, but has given no clues to her identity, except that she is a native ofinand that she joined TVF as a 22-year-old in 2014.Talking exclusively to Mumbai Mirror, Arunabh said that TVF has never had anybody from Muzaffarpur on its rolls and claimed that Medium has sought 48 hours for verification of the post. “If the post is fake, it will be removed,” he said.But the Medium post is just one of the troubles that Arunabh now faces. Two more women have since made allegations of having suffered sexual harassment at TVF, one of them by Arunabh, whose stake in TVF is said to be worth Rs270 crore. In an open letter on facebook, filmmaker Reemahas alleged that Arunabh repeatedly touched her inappropriately during a five-hour shoot for TVF. “As I talk, he finds some lame excuse to place his hand on my hand (which was on the table in his glass cabin). In the middle of the shoot, he touches my shoulder tattoo and tells me he finds it sexy. After every other shot, he would come over to the monitor to see how the shot looks, but at the same time graze his hand against my waist,” she wrote in the post.While Arunabh accepted Sengupta had filmed a promo for his company, he denied he misbehaved with her. “The kind of insinuations the FB post makes are untrue. I am a heterosexual, single man and when I find a woman sexy, I tell her she’s sexy. I compliment women. Is that wrong? Having said that, I am very particular about my behavior – I will approach a woman, but never force myself,” he said.Another ex-employee of TVF, Aayushi Aggarwal, in an online post alleged that she felt exploited and cheated at TVF and left the job “under very bad circumstances.” Referring to the post on Medium,wrote: “I hope things have worked out for you. It (TVF) is indeed no place for a woman. I would never recommend anybody to work there.”While accepting that Aggarwal did complain of harassment during her employment with TVF, Arunabh said that a committee was appointed to look in her complaints and a colleague of hers was found guilty of misconduct and asked to leave. “The entire process was handled as it would be at any other corporate office,” he said. In the post on Medium titled ‘The Indian Uber – That Is TVF, which appeared late on Sunday evening and has since gone viral, the victim detailed the harassment she suffered at TVF “right from Pitchers to Tripling”, two of the company’s productions released in 2015 and 2016 respectively.The victim writes that at parties Arunabh would try to lift her or would try and fall on her pretending to be drunk.Referring to a particular incident, she wrote that he once walked out of a meeting and called her to take some notes. “I walk up. He says it’s time we do a quickie. I am stunned. And I told him I will go to the police. He said: ‘Police to meri pocket me hai’.”Describing the entire Medium post as slander, Arunabh said: “Social media has already declared me an offender, but I am ready to address all the allegations against me. I am open to receiving a police complaint so that I can respond legally as well. TVF is bigger than me and if there is a remote chance that I have done any wrong, let me be persecuted.”Arunabh’s publicists released a statement calling the post on Medium ludicrous and defamatory. “We take a lot of pride in our team and in making TVF a safe workplace that is equally comfortable for women and men. We will leave no stone unturned to find the author of the article and bring her to justice for making such false allegations. It is our humble request that you do not share an unsubstantiated, unverified and anonymous article such as this.”