MUMBAI: The Oshiwara police on Wednesday filed a report before an Andheri magistrate court stating that the case of sexual harassment filed by Tanushree Dutta against co-actor Nana Patekar was "false". As there was no evidence to prosecute Patekar, the police said while attaching their B Summary or case closure report, they were closing the case.It is now for the court to decide if the case stands closed or is to be carried forward.The police report added Tanushree had filed the case "because of a misunderstanding and without malicious intent". The case, lodged in October 6 last year, had marked the launch of the #MeToo movement in India.Police stated the actress had, after first filing a complaint with CINTAA (Cine and TV Artistes Association) in March 2008, "settled the matter" the same month after a meeting with the production house for the film Horn 'OK' Pleassss. At the meeting, which took place in front of officials of CINTAA and IFTPC (Indian Film and TV Production Council), the cops said, it was agreed the producers would pay Tanushree "Rs 5 lakh + 10% service tax, and the matter would not be stretched any further."A 'B Summary' report is filed when police have no evidence to file a chargesheet against an accused.Tanushree had lodged an FIR with Goregaon police in 2008 but had later alleged cops had not added sections related to sexual harassment while registering an assault case. Last year's October 10 FIR lodged at Oshiwara police station contained that section and named Patekar and three others: choreographer Ganesh Acharya, director Samee Siddique and producer Rakesh Sarang. She alleged she had been harassed by Patekar between March 23 and 26, 2008 during a dance sequence on the sets.The 51-page police report, which TOI has seen, has attached to it statements of at least 13 persons shown as witnesses, including choreographer-actor Daisy Shah. All witnesses whose statements have been recorded by police have claimed they did not witness any untoward incident when the item song was being shot.Tanushree had alleged in her FIR that the director and producer had informed her the item number "would be a solo song" and, after she said she "would not enact or perform any lewd or uncomfortable steps," "committed to ensuring my comfort level." According to her, she was told "Patekar would only have one line in the song, which they would shoot separately. However, he was present on all four days and kept touching me under the pretext of teaching me how to dance."Police stated they found Tanushree's claim that she was not told Patekar would be in the item song was not true. Also, she was informed about all changes made to the item number, the cops stated.According to the police report, "Producer Rakesh Sarang, choreographer Ganesh Acharya, actor Nana Patekar and director Samee Siddique said they had informed the actress while signing the movie that a male dancer would be doing the song with her. Tanushree's claim that Patekar touched her inappropriately and used lewd comments was not supported by any of the junior artistes and dancers present on the sets. They said they did not see any such act done by Patekar."Choreographer-actor Daisy Shah, among the witnesses, noted in her statement that "as Nana Patekar was not good at dancing, she (Daisy) and her male partner were showing him dance steps. On March 26, 2008, Patekar came early for practice and at around noon Dutta came on the sets. All dancers were on the sets while Patekar stood behind Dutta. Suddenly, Dutta left the sets, fuming. No one knew what happened and why she left. The producer and director tried to convince her to come out of her vanity van, but she didn't. Later the shoot was called off. We learnt about the allegation later. But no one witnessed any act where Patekar had touched her from behind."Tanushree's lawyer Nitin Satpute said police had acted negligently in order to protect Patekar. Statements of many witnesses-among them "hair dresser Aliza, Wasim and Mir"-had not yet been recorded, and the statement of one "Shyni Shetty" had been recorded only partly, he said. Police had only recorded statements of those who knew nothing, Satpute alleged. "Police have not investigated properly, so we will oppose the B Summary report and file a writ petition in the Bombay high court," he said.Tanushree, releasing a statement through her lawyer, stated, "A corrupt police force and legal system giving a clean chit to an even more corrupt person Nana who has been accused even in the past of bullying, intimidation and harassment by several women in the film industry. Our witnesses have been silenced by intimidation and fake witnesses have been put forth to weaken the case. 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."Satpute said he had not received any information from Oshiwara police about their report and added "any B or C Summary report cannot be final". "We can oppose it before court and after hearing us, if the court is satisfied, it can direct police to reinvestigate or carry out further investigations," he said.The police report stated that as per the agreement between the producers and Tanushree in the 2008 meeting before CINTAA officials, the producer was asked "not to relay anything" shot during the period when the alleged harassment took place. Also, if any future date were to be fixed for shooting with the actress, another Rs10 lakh with service tax was to be payable as per the pact.Patekar had strongly denied the allegations when the fracas made headlines in 2008 and once again in 2018, but this time with a legal notice asking Tanushree to apologise and withdraw allegations; he said he would initiate "criminal defamation proceedings" if she failed to do so.DCP (zone IX) Paramjit Singh Dahiya confirmed to TOI that a B Summary report had been filed but declined to divulge details. Patekar declined comment when TOI contacted him on Thursday, and Acharya did not respond to calls. A police officer at Oshiwara police station said, "The court will now listen to arguments of both the victim and the accused before deciding."It was last September, when the Jamshedpur-born former Miss India Tanushree was in Mumbai on a holiday, that she made the allegations in an interview with Zoom TV.Asked why she had been quiet for 10 years, the actress, who has been living in the US for the past two years, had said: "From the moment I landed in India, I fielded speculations about why I was away from the industry and whether I was kicked out for my unprofessional behaviour 10 years ago. I had to set the record straight." She also claimed her prospect of getting a "dream job in Manhattan" was quashed by the "web of lies' the internet threw up.She added she never approached anyone back then because "even a basic FIR I filed didn't get its due response. Before I could reach cops, they had filed a counter FIR". She claimed her entourage members were harassed periodically for many years before her parents decided to drop the case.Mumbai police had also posted armed personnel outside Tanushree's residence after she said that MNS chief Raj Thackeray had threatened to carry out a "violent attack" on her when she accused his henchmen of vandalising her car on the film's sets at Patekar's behest.After the new FIR was filed last year, Oshiwara senior inspector Shailesh Pasalwar had told TOI they would gather evidence in the form of statements from witnesses, including those present on the sets, before taking further action and send summons to the four accused. They would also ask their Goregaon counterparts why they had not added Patekar's name in the 2008 FIR.Soon after, Tanusree submitted an application to the Amboli police seeking arrest and carrying out of narcoanalysis, brain-mapping and lie director tests on all four named in the case, stating they were "highly influential" and claiming witnesses were willing to record statements but were unable to do so as they were scared of the accused.-With inputs from Mohua Das