TVF founder and CEO Arunabh Kumar (File)
Three months after multiple allegations of sexual harassment surfaced against him, Arunabh Kumar, founder and CEO of digital content company TheViralFever (TVF), Friday announced that he was stepping down from the position. While Kumar makes way for TVF COO Dhawal Gusain to take over, he will continue to work with the company as a “mentor”.
Kumar is currently out on bail in two cases of sexual harassment filed against him, of which the charge sheet in one has been filed. Kumar announced the decision via social media. He issued a statement admitting that the initial response by TVF to the Indian Fowler post was “perhaps made in haste”.
TVF had been heavily criticised for their first official statement, where they had said they would “leave no stone unturned to find the author of the article and bring them to serve justice for making such false allegations”, referring to the anonymous writer of the Indian Fowler post on medium.com.
“While no amount of apologies can undo the mistake, I would like to again apologise from the bottom of our hearts for letting you all down and thus humbly accept the brickbats we received from all of you for that instinctive response,” Kumar said in his statement Friday.
His decision to step down, Kumar said, stems from the fact that the allegations have also tarnished TVF’s image. Thanking viewers for their constant support, Kumar added that he wasconfident “that eventually the truth will prevail”.
