Investigation & action can be initiated once FIR is registered. Encourage victim to come forward, the cops tweeted
The Mumbai police on Tuesday took to Twitter urging the women, who have alleged sexual harassment by The Viral Fever (TVF)’s founder and CEO Arunabh Kumar, to register a complaint.
“Investigations and action can be initiated once an FIR is registered. We encourage the victim to come forward," the tweet read.
According to a report by Mid-Day, the cops are currently trying to locate the complainants in the case. "We are checking internally with all police stations, as well as the cyber police station. But, nobody has come forward with any complaint whatsoever. We are trying to find out who these complainants are," said Mumbai Police spokesperson Ashok Dudhe, while speaking to the newspaper.
TVF came under the scanner on Monday after a blog titled ‘The Indian Uber –That is TVF’ did the rounds on social media. The writer of the blog, an anonymous user called The Indian Fowler alleged that she was molested by Kumar for the first time when she joined the company in 2014. “After that, it became a routine. Arunabh would try to lift me or would try and fall on me pretending he is drunk (sic)", she alleges. When she threatened to go to the cops, Arunabh's apparent retort was "Police to meri pocket mein hai".
As her post went viral, shared and retweeted, at least three more ex-employees shared similar experiences. Reema Sengupta, who worked on a web series with Arunabh, shared a horrifying account of an encounter with him on Facebook.
While Kumar has personally not made any statements, TVF spokesperson issued a statement that read, "All allegations made against TVF and its team in the article are categorically false, baseless and unverified. We take pride in making TVF a safe workplace that is equally comfortable for women and men. We will leave no stone unturned to find the author of the article and bring them to severe justice for making such false allegations. It is our humble request that you do not share an unsubstantiated, unverified and anonymous article such as this."
Writer-actor Nidhi Bisht, a TVF insider who has known Arunabh for the last eight years, calls him a 'father figure' and 'mentor'. "I don't think he can do something like this with any female employee. The allegation is fictitious."
Actress Maanvi Gagroo, who was seen in TVF's show, Tripling, says: "My experience of working with TVF has been wonderful. Arunabh has been like a brother to me."
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