Writer-director Vinta Nanda has called the allegations of sexual assault against Rajkumar Hirani “disturbing”.
Nanda was reacting to HuffPost India’s report on Sunday about the allegations against the director:
The woman had detailed the allegations in an email addressed to Sanju co-producer and Hirani’s close business associate producer Vidhu Vinod Chopra.
Hirani, responding through his lawyer, has denied the allegations.
In a statement released after HuffPost India’s report, the filmmaker said, “I was completely shocked when these allegations were brought to my notice about two months back. I had suggested immediately that it is essential to take this matter to any committee or any legal body.”
During the #MeToo movement in India last year, Nanda had shared her own experience of assault. She later filed a complaint with the Oshiwara police in Mumbai, saying that actor Alok Nath raped her in her house in 1998 after spiking her drink.
Nath, who was booked in November under Section 376 (punishment for rape) of the Indian Penal Code, was granted anticipatory bail by a sessions court in Mumbai on 9 January.