Soumya Vajpayee (BOMBAY TIMES; October 23, 2018)

Playback singer Arpita Chakraborty recalls an incident that happened with her two months ago. Lyricist Abhendra Kumar Upadhyay, known for penning songs for films like Roy, Baaghi, Rocky Handsome, Singham Returns and Alone, apparently sent her lewd messages on social media.

Talking about the incident, the singer, known for her songs in Satyagraha and Ragini MMS 2, told BT, “In August this year, Abhendra Kumar reached out to me via Facebook Messenger. I barely knew him. I merely had a couple of brief interactions with him in recording studios. He spoke about my private parts and the conversation got worse. I had even posted the screenshots of his sleazy chat on Facebook.”

She added, “While some people supported my brave move, many from the industry chose not to react to the post. There were a few who called me and asked me to take the post down. I kept getting calls the whole night to take the post down. This is the first time I am raising my voice against those people from the music industry who are sleazy. They think they can molest any girl and get away with it. Sorry, but your time is up.”

When contacted, Abhendra said, “Uss message mein se Arpita ne apne messages delete kiye the aur sirf mere messages publicly dale the. Iske bawjood maine apologise kiya tha. Baad me uske gaali wale messages bhi aaye fir bhi maine kuch nahin bola.”