BOMBAY TIMES (October 17, 2018)

Yesterday, four women, who chose to remain anonymous, levelled charges of sexual harassment against Anirban Das Blah, the former head of Kwan Entertainment, a celebrity management agency. With that, the #MeToo movement gained more ground in Bollywood, given that their complaints have not fallen on deaf ears. In response to the details given out by the women, Anirban, the co-founder of the company, was asked to step aside with immediate effect.

The company that handles the portfolio of celebrities like Ranbir Kapoor, Aditya Roy Kapur, Hrithik Roshan, Sonam K Ahuja, Deepika Padukone, Kriti Sanon, Sanya Malhotra, Kartik Aaryan and, Rajkummar Rao to name a few, issued an official statement, saying,

“...We have asked Anirban Blah to forthwith step aside from his duties, activities and responsibilities at KWAN, its subsidiaries and affiliates with immediate effect. At KWAN, our endeavour has always been to create a healthy and inclusive working environment. The past few days have been very disturbing to everyone in light of the #MeToo Movement and it has pushed us all to take a step back and introspect whether each of us is doing enough to create a healthy and safe environment. We fully support the #MeToo Movement and deprecate and condemn those who have exploited women in any form or manner. As a responsible corporate, we have taken assistance to ensure that we have efficient and appropriate processes to redress any complaint of misconduct in accordance with the law. We remain committed to create a safe and secure work environment for our employees and anyone associated with us.

We have a PoSH Committee in place and all complaints will be kept confidential. In case of any grievance, you are requested to contact Ms Shona Urvashi (External Member of the Committee — Recipient of the French Honour Chevalier de L'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres).”
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mid-day impact: After this newspaper published accounts of sexual harassment narrated by four women, Anirban Das of Kwan, which manages the likes of Ranbir Kapoor and Deepika Padukone, relieved of duties inside the company
Mohar Basu (MID-DAY; October 17, 2018)

After mid-day published the accounts of four survivors accusing KWAN founder Anirban Das Blah of sexual harassment and abuse of power in its October 16 edition, the talent manager has been asked to "step aside" from his position. The talent management company issued a statement to the effect on Tuesday afternoon.

The statement read, "In view of the article dated 16th October in mid-day, we have asked Anirban Blah to forthwith step aside from his duties, activities, and responsibilities of KWAN, its subsidiaries, and affiliates with immediate effect. We fully support the #MeToo movement and deprecate and condemn those who have exploited women in any form or manner."

The statement reiterated that the firm has a PoSH (Policy for Prevention of Sexual Harassment) committee for redressal of grievances and complaints.

A source informs that the decision to relieve Blah of his position was taken by the board of directors. "He wasn't involved in the day-to-day working of the company since early 2018, following an internal structural change in the firm."

A Twitter user claims that Blah is currently stationed in Berlin. In its ongoing effort to bolster the #MeToo campaign, mid-day had published an exposé on Blah — while one survivor recalled how he asked her "to be part of an unnatural sex set-up", another accused him of forcing himself on her.