(L-R) Sakett Sawhney, Mahie Gill and DoP Santosh Tundayil

While the show’s producer alleges that the cops didn’t come to their rescue, the investigating officer insists that the unit did not have permission to shoot at the venue
Rachana Dubey (BOMBAY TIMES; June 21, 2019)

In a video released on Wednesday, the cast and crew of an under-production webshow, have alleged that they were beaten up by drunk goons on their set near Thane (Ghodbunder Road). The incident occurred on June 19, when the unit was filming at a factory. The shooting had commenced at 7 am, and around 4.30 pm, a group of men barged in. In the video shared by producers of the show Ekta Kapoor and Tigmanshu Dhulia, actress Mahie Gill and another co-producer Sakett Sawhney can be seen alleging they were harassed by drunk goons.

However, after the video became viral, an FIR in the matter was registered at Kasarvadavali Police Station, Thane. The matter is being looked into by officer Kishore Khairnar. Early on Thursday, his team arrested three people, Krishna Sonar, Sonu Das and Suresh Sharma, for attacking the sets. The search for two other accused is on.

When BT reached out to officer Khairnar, he informed us that those arrested are spot selection agents and they had assaulted the cast and crew with bamboos. A case has been registered under IPC section 326 (Voluntarily causing grievous hurt by dangerous weapons or means) and 34 (common intention).

“The crew did not have any permission to shoot at the said venue. The problem arose because of two warring groups of spot selection agents. The police station has to be informed and permission for shooting has to be sought. That’s the general way of functioning. Sakett Sawhney claimed in the video that his agent had all the requisite permissions, but when we asked him to produce the papers at the police station, he had nothing to give. In fact, we were informed by an eye-witness that some sort of a fight had broken out on the set, and that’s how we learnt about the shoot happening at that factory. By the time the patrol vans could get there, everyone had left. They didn’t come to the police station immediately, they headed back to Mumbai instead,” Khairnar said.

Officer Khairnar adds, “The people who were left behind on the location knew nothing about the incident. In the meanwhile, Sakett and some others had started putting up videos accusing us for not doing our duty. We can only act if they let us do so. There are so many shootings that happen in the vicinity and there are patrol vans around all the time. These people didn’t inform us; if their agent or they had done that, we would have had it in our records.”

Sakett, along with Ashoke Pandit, president of the Indian Film And Television Directors’ Association (IFTDA), actor Shabbir Ahluwalia, director Soham Shah, producer J D Majethia and actor Mahie Gill, made their way to Vidhan Bhavan in Mumbai, to voice their concerns against such harassment, to CM Devendra Fadnavis.

When we reached out to Sakett, he told us, “We identified a property and a coordinator told us to pay a certain amount which included Rs 5,000 for police permission. We were given an invoice. When the issue spiralled, we found out that the agent had slipped and not taken police permission. The point is, if I am being harassed, will the police first ask for my permission papers or rescue me? It’s like if you are bleeding on the road, will the police ask for your aadhar card before getting you medical help. We were not in the wrong, we had duly paid for the venue. It was someone else’s slip up, and in turn, my crew and artistes were hit and bruised. We had no idea how to react when they barged in on our set, shouting, abusing and holding rods and sticks in their hands. They said, ‘Yeh hamara area hai, aap idhar nahi shoot kar sakte’. We didn’t get any help in time. We left our stuff on the set and went to the hospital. Eventually, we did go to the cop station and file an FIR. The reason we didn’t immediately go is that we didn’t want undue and prolonged harassment for an incident like this. We felt victimised, but after the video became viral, the cops got into action and filed a complaint, released all our equipment and also arrested three of the accused.”

Talking about the visit to the CM’s office, Sakett told us, “We met the CM. We had reached out to Ashoke Pandit and J D Majethia. We felt this is not a one-off incident and it needs to stop. It occurs too often in Naigaon, Mira Road, Umargaon and Karjat, where a lot of shoots happen. A meeting was arranged with the CMO, and he not only heard us but also sprang into action immediately. He made us speak to the IG of the area and also assured us that the accused will be behind bars for a considerable period. It’s a great feeling that the head of state takes immediate action to help us. We reached out because we felt we have access and we must present our grievances to him. It’s a question of human life. When we step out for work, we also want to return home safe. Sometimes, escalating a problem to the highest power corridor in the state is the only option you are left with.”


Shabbir Ahluwalia, Sakett Sawhney, JD Majethia, Mahie Gill, Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis, and Ashoke Pandit with others