On Thursday, Jennifer Mistry Bansiwal, who played Mrs Roshan Sodhi in the TV show Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah (TMKOC), revealed that she quit the show in March. The actor also alleged that makers of the show sexually assaulted her. One of the accused, Sohil Ramani, project head of TMKOC, asserts that the actor’s accusations are all lies.

Contrary to Bansiwal’s claims of quitting, Ramani says her contract was terminated by the production house. “We removed her three months ago and now she is desperate as she is unable to find work. It is for cheap publicity,” Ramani says.

He also sheds light on Bansiwal’s behaviour on the set. “For the 15 years that she’s worked with us, we’ve ignored her characteristics such as coming late for shoot, creating misunderstandings, etc. We have a lot of evidence,” he adds.

In an interview with an entertainment portal, Bansiwal had narrated an incident from March 4, when she was “subjected to humiliation and insult” while the actor was leaving the set early. Replying to this, Ramani tells us, “She had taken permission to leave by 2 pm. But on that day, she wanted to leave sooner. I had changed our entire schedule for her.”

Bansiwal also revealed that she has “filed a sexual harassment case” against Ramani and TMKOC producer Asit Modi. “We have a committee of women, why did she never complain to them?” says Ramani.

However, he admits that the production house has not cleared her dues yet as they were looking for an answer from her. “We had shared an email with her asking for the reasons why she did what she did,” he adds.

Modi did not reply to our calls, but he released a statement: “We will take legal action as she is trying to defame me and the show both. Since we terminated her services, she is making these baseless allegations.”

Bansiwal couldn’t be reached for a comment till we went to press.