After four women anonymously accused Anirban Blah, the founder of Kwan Entertainment, one of the biggest celebrity management agencies in India, of seeking sexual favours from aspiring actors, he has been sacked with immediate effect.

The agency issued a statement saying, “We fully support the #MeToo movement and deprecate and condemn those who have exploited women in any form or manner.” Mr. Blah also resigned from the Board of Trustees of Deepika Padukone’s The Live Love Laugh Foundation. Issuing a statement, the Foundation said that they have accepted his resignation and he will not participate in its activities and programmes henceforth.

A model accused Mr. Blah of asking her to strip during an interview. An actor recalled the time when Mr. Blah promised to help her get a foothold in the industry and said, “Casting is done in bedrooms and not in public spaces”. Another actor recalled a meeting two years ago when Mr. Blah asked her if she would be willing to be part of “an unnatural sex set-up”.

A young writer wrote to the Screenwriters Association (SWA) accusing Ajit Thakur, head of the content studio of the media and entertainment business of Reliance Industries, of sexual harassment during a job interview and forcing her to do cocaine. Producer Yash Patnaik has been accused of being an accomplice and forcing the survivor to stay. Two weeks after the job interview, the writer got an offer letter from Mr. Thakur, which she rejected and confronted him on the phone.

Ketki Pandit, Chairperson, Internal Committee of SWA, said that they have received the complaint. “We received her application, met her today and heard her story. We will follow the protocol now but we are in complete solidarity with her.” The SWA is in the process of sending an official communication to Mr. Thakur.

Scriptwriter Varun Grover, in an open letter, denied all allegations of inappropriately touching a batchmate at IT-BHU, Varanasi. The accusation was made by an anonymous post on Twitter last week. In the letter, Mr. Grover wrote that his batch (2000-2004) had 36 female students, of which four were part of his theatre group. He said that the four women not only extended their solidarity but also reached out to the 32 women who also denied the allegations.

“If someone still has concerns, I urge them to reach out to National Commission of Women (NCW) or any independent commission and file a formal complaint. I will be grateful to present my case,” he wrote.