Maligned, threatened by rapist, B-Town hairstylist writes to CM

Mumbai : A 34-year-old Bollywood hair stylist has written a letter to the Chief Minister, the Chief Justice of the Bombay High Court and the Commissioner of Mumbai Police seeking justice against the accused Atul Kadam (42), a make-up artist who allegedly raped her in 2014 and repeatedly threatened her and circulated nude photographs and videos among her family members and colleagues.

The anticipatory bail of Kadam was rejected and he has been absconding since then.

As per the letter dated February 16, the lady has alleged that the investigating officer Assistant Police Inspector, Nityanand Obale, Dindoshi police station neither produce the photographs and the videos nor made any mention of it before the court when the anticipatory bail of the accused was heard. Obale was absent on three occasions at court when the order was to be passed. As per the letter, an inquiry should be conducted against the accused Kadam and Obale who are allegedly hand in glove with each other. The victim has accused Obale of taking bribes from Kadam to settle the matter.

The incident occurred on February 26, 2014 at the residence of Kadam at Nagari Nivas in Goregaon. The accused had asked the victim to meet him near his residence and told her that he would pick her up to head for a film shoot together. Later, he informed her then that the film shoot was delayed for three hours. He offered her a cold drink which was spiked and raped her.

“When I regained my consciousness, I confronted Kadam. He told me that he liked me and wanted to get physically involved. Later, he threatened me with the videos and nude photographs of the incident and asked me to meet him outside at hotels, only then he would destroy the photographs and videos. Kadam circulated the videos and photographs to my colleagues in the film industry and repeatedly kept threatening me to meet him at hotels. I kept quiet because of my three daughters and they too would have undergo suffering and humiliation,” said the victim.

The victim has been staying separately from her husband Santosh Jadhav since 2016. “On April 24, this year Kadam went to my husband’s residence at Borivali and showed him the nude videos and photographs and along with my husband came to my residence at Malad and showed the videos to my mother, aunt, brother- in-law and my brother. He also showed the videos to all the people in my neighbourhood,” she added.

After Mohan Krishnan, a social activist and President of National Anti-Corruption and Crime Preventive Council, intervened in the matter, the Dindoshi police filed a First Information Report (FIR) on October 3, 2017.