As police close sexual harassment case against Nana Patekar, here is what they told the court about why Tanushree's allegations don't stand
Faizan Khan (MID-DAY; June 14, 2019)

The Oshiwara police on Wednesday filed a closure report in the form of a B summary and submitted it to the Andheri metropolitan magistrate court in the sexual harassment case filed by actor Tanushree Dutta against actor Nana Patekar, choreographer Ganesh Acharya, producer Samee Siddiqui and director Rakesh Sarang. They have listed six counts on the basis of which they filed the B summary, one of which says that police investigations revealed no evidence against Patekar. Dutta and her lawyer lashed out at the cops for only recording statements that supported Patekar.

The closure report was filed eight months after Dutta filed a case against Patekar, Acharya, Siddiqui and Sarang, alleging Patekar misbehaved with her in 2008 on the set of the movie Horn Ok Pleassss, while shooting for a special dance number. Confirming the development, senior police inspector at Oshiwara police station, Shailesh Pasalwad, said "The B Summary report has been filed before the Andheri Magistrate court as we have not found any evidence against the accused."

Another officer said, "Since the matter was 10 years old, we were completely dependent on the statements of witnesses who were present at the time of incident. We recorded 13 statements in the matter, which includes those of cameraman, assistant choreographers, back-up dancers, spot boy and makeup artist. A few witnesses were only aware of the delay during the shoot, but nobody knows if Dutta was sexually harassed."

Following are the six counts under which the report was filed:

Allegations against Patekar
Police investigations revealed that there has been no evidence against Patekar as the dancers, assistant choreographers, junior artists, cameramen who were present at the time of the shoot have not supported Dutta's allegations of sexual harassment.

Allegations against Siddiqui, Sarang
Siddiqui and Sarang had informed Dutta that she would be performing solo and Patekar would make a guest appearance. Police investigations revealed that before the song was shot, Dutta had rehearsed for it at Shariq hall in Andheri west on March 14, 15, 16, 18 and 20, 2008 along with dancer Sanjeev Havaldar, who was filling in for Patekar, which Dutta was fully aware of.

Allegations against Acharya
Dutta had alleged Acharya changed the choreography where Patekar was to touch her. Siddiqui, Sarang and Acharya had allegedly not informed her about the change in the dance sequence. Police report states that assistant choreographer Daisy Shah and Jyoti Kamble have not mentioned any change in choreography in their statements.

Dutta lost crores
Another allegation was that due to the mental stress caused by the incident, Dutta could not resume the shoot and lost crores of rupees. She had also claimed that she complained to CINTAA in March 2009, but they closed the matter without any inquiry. The police investigations revealed that soon after the complaint was made to CINTAA, they called a meeting along with 'AMTPPP officials', in which it was decided that Dutta would be compensated with R5 lakh. In the meeting, Dutta had allegedly had not mentioned about anyone misbehaving with her on the sets.

MNS pressuring cops
In her complaint, Tanushree had alleged that after the incident, the producer, director and choreographer along with MNS (Maharashtra Navnirman Sena) workers had pressured cops at the Goregaon police station to ensure her complaint — which her father had gone there to file — was not registered. It was also said that her father recorded his statement mentioning sexual harassment, but the cops did not record it.

The original case papers procured from Goregaon police station state that Dutta had refused to appear before the cops to record her statement claiming she is busy on a shoot. According to the papers, her father had only mentioned an attack on Dutta's car by a group of people. He had not made any allegations of sexual harassment in the case.

Period on TV
Dutta had told cops that Siddiqui mentioned in a clip shown on a news channel that she must have been on her period on the day of the contentious shoot. The cops received the video from the said channel and upon inquiring with Siddiqui, he said the reporter had asked him if Dutta cancelled the shoot due to fever, physical stress or her period, to which Siddiqui said she could have done that because she was on her period.

What Nana Patekar Told The Cops
"On March 26, 2008 , I reached Filmistan Studio between 10 am and 11 am. I was unable to do the dance steps and Ganesh Acharya's assistant was helping me with it. I was taking 25 to 30 minutes to learn one dance step. On the other side of the stage, around 30 to 35 feet away from me, Tanushree was doing her steps with assistant choreographers. Later, she went to her vanity van once she was done. After lunch, we were all on the sets. I and Tanushree were dancing, and there was some distance between me and her, but she suddenly left from the shoot, I don't know why. She locked herself in her vanity van. Acharya and his assistant were trying to speak to her, but she didn't respond. As she didn't turn up, the shoot was cancelled and I left for home. Later, I was told by director Rakesh Sarang that Tanushree has alleged that I had misbehaved with her, which I had clarified at the time while speaking with the media that she is like my daughter. Two days later, I recorded the same sequel with actress Rakhi Sawant. After this episode, I and Tanushree once came face to face at the International Film Festival in Goa, we both made eye contact and smiled at each other. After that I never met her."

Tanushree Says
Dutta and her lawyer lashed out at the police for recording only statements which support Patekar. Dutta said in her statement, "Our witnesses have been silenced by intimidation and fake witnesses have been put forth to weaken the case. What was the rush to file a B summary report when all of my witnesses have not even recorded their statements yet? I'm neither shocked nor surprised; being a woman in India, this is something we all have gotten used to. If rape accused Alok Nath got a clean chit and returned to movies, then it was surely not going to be difficult for harassment accused Nana Patekar to get himself or shall we say buy himself a clean chit to continue to bully hapless young women."

"I am tired of fighting alone against oppressors, bullies and a corrupt system. I have better things to do in life with my talent and skills and I need to focus on those, but please don't take this example to mean that you will not be heard when you speak up. Continue to expose these creeps through social media and other platforms so that in the future, people would think twice before troubling an innocent young girl. I still believe that I will get justice and victory will be mine. How, only time will tell," said Dutta.

Her lawyer Nitin Satpute told mid-day, "Police acted negligently to protect Patekar. The statements of many witnesses have not been recorded yet. The statement of witness Shyni Shetty's statement was not recorded completely, moreover, statements of hairdressers Aliza, Wasim and Mir and seven other witnesses were not recorded. Cops have taken statements of those who know nothing. We will appeal before the court to re-investigate the matter."

Earlier, Satpute had claimed to have an audio recording of one of the witnesses where Patekar can be heard pressuring a witness to not speak. However, that recording has not been submitted to the Oshiwara police yet. Responding to the lawyer's statement, Pasalwad said, "They never came to us with any list of witnesses." mid-day had reported on May 15 in 'Witness statements don't support Tanushree's story' about how Oshiwara police had not gotten a single statement corroborating Dutta's allegations. Cops had said they are helpless as witnesses claimed they were unable to recall what happened during the 2008 shoot.

What Is A 'B-Summary'?
A 'B-Summary' report is filed when the police do not find any evidence against the accused to file a charge sheet and seek trial. If the court accepts it, it would mean that they have acknowledged the clean chit given by the police.

The Six Counts
1. Patekar did not sexually harass Dutta, based on statements of dancers, assistant choreographers, junior artists, cameramen
2. Samee Siddiqui and Rakesh Sarang informed Dutta that Patekar would make a guest appearance
3. Acharya did not change the choreography for Patekar to touch Dutta
4. CINTAA acted on her complaint and ensured Rs 5 lakh compensation
5. Goregaon police station was not pressured to drop case against the accused, according to original papers from police station
6. Siddiqui said on TV, reason Dutta cancelled the shoot was because she was on her period

THE TIMES OF INDIA (May 7, 2019)

Mumbai: TV actor Karan Oberoi was arrested on Sunday after his former girlfriend pressed charges of rape against him. Officials of the Oshiwara police station said that the 33-year-old woman and the 44-year-old actor have known each other since 2016. The woman has alleged that the actor filmed her in objectionable positions after sedating her.

Oberoi was produced in the Andheri magistrate’s court on Monday. The court sent him to police custody till May 9.

Oberoi, a resident of Andheri (west), had met the woman, an astrologer, through a dating app three years ago. The two met several times over the next few months and grew friendly.

According to the woman’s complaint, Oberoi called her to his residence on one occasion. He offered her a beverage which was allegedly spiked. After the woman felt dizzy, she was allegedly raped. She also accused Oberoi of filming the act.

“The woman has complained that between 2016 and 2018, Oberoi blackmailed her using the video. He demanded money from her and threatened to leak the video if she refused,” said Shailesh Pasalwad, senior inspector, Oshiwara police station.

The police said that the woman had submitted chat messages exchanged between her and Oberoi besides evidence to indicate that he took money from her. “After the victim approached us on Saturday, we registered an FIR against Oberoi,” Pasalwad added.

Oberoi was a member of India’s first Hindi boy band called ‘Band of Boys’ and also starred in the TV show ‘Jassi Jaisi Koi Nahi’.
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Karan Oberoi and the fashion designer-and-healer, who has accused him of rape, had spoken to BT in October 2018, when they first approached the police. Both of them contradicted each other's stories at that time. Read on...
Neha Maheshwari and Tanvi Trivedi (BOMBAY TIMES; May 7, 2019)

Karan Oberoi, who has acted in TV shows like Jassi Jaissi Koi Nahin, Saaya, Dishayen and was a part of the music group A Band of Boys, has been arrested by Mumbai police on charges of rape by a fashion designer-and-healer. The Oshiwara police lodged an FIR against Karan under Section 376 (rape) and 384 (extortion) of the Indian Penal Code. Shailesh Pasalwad, Senior Police Inspector, Oshiwara Police Station, told BT, “Karan has been charged with rape. He has also been accused of filming the act and demanding money from the victim, and threatening to release the video if she didn’t pay up.” On the morning of May 6, the actor was produced in the Andheri Court and he has been taken into police custody till May 9.

FLASHBACK
A non-cognisable complaint (NC) was lodged by the woman against Karan in October 2018, where she accused him of using her financially. Incidentally, Karan, too, had filed an NC against her for mental harassment 10 days before that. At that point, the girl had reached out to Bombay Times and lashed out at Karan, revealing details about their association. When BT contacted Karan, he presented his version of the story. Both their versions clearly contradicted the other. Soon after that, the girl did not want to go public with the story. Given that he has now been accused of rape and extortion, we are producing excerpts from the conversation that we had with both of them...

 WHAT THE GIRL TOLD BT IN OCTOBER 2018
“Karan and I got in touch on a dating app. Initially, he asked me to share basic pictures, followed by nudes, with him guiding me on how they should be taken. We met in October 2016, and got intimate for the first time. We met again four days later and when I told him that I am into healing, he requested me to help him in his career. I started helping him and that’s how I began spending money on him. I replaced his fake gemstones with expensive ones, which cost me around Rs 90,000. He said that he would pay me later, but never did. In May 2017, he told me that his house had been mortgaged and he didn’t want to lose it. I gave him over a lakh for several months to help him save his house. I would give him money otherwise, too, for his expenses. Just doing up his house cost me around Rs 4 lakh and I also bought him a karaoke console, refrigerator, laptop and a mobile phone. He would ask me to get expensive things for him whenever I travelled abroad for my work. The demands were covert — he would tell me that he has been planning to buy a particular item since long, but hasn’t been able to because of money constraints, knowing that I would buy it for him. We were like a couple. However, he never committed and told me that he didn’t want to be in that space as he had been cheated on in his previous relationships. We would often fight over it, but I would keep returning to him after swearing to end the relationship. I felt bad for pressurising him to commit to me while he was going through the stress of losing his house and facing a financial crunch. He also said that had he been better off financially, he would never have let me go. Besides the fact that he never committed to me, the last nail in the coffin was when someone close to him told me that he was just using me. That’s when I asked Karan to return everything I gave him, but he flatly refused. Right now, my biggest concern are the suggestive pictures and videos that we exchanged. In fact, he wanted to shoot us while having sex, but I declined. I am not sure whether he has deleted them or not, though he tells me he has. But for my sanity, I need to be certain that the pictures have been deleted.”

WHAT KARAN OBEROI TOLD BT IN OCTOBER 2018
“I may have flirted with her initially, but then, I am a single guy. There was absolutely no relationship, intimacy or sex between us. I have blocked her from everywhere, as I figured her out almost immediately. She said that her father used to hit her and that no man has ever loved her. I just lent her a sympathetic ear because of what she had claimed to have been through. She told me that she is into occult and wanted to come out of it and pursue an alternative profession. She then suggested that she could do up my house and I decided to help her by allowing her to do that. That was the biggest mistake of my life. I have two houses in Mumbai and neither of them has been mortgaged. I gave her cash to buy items for my home, as she offered me a better deal. Every piece of furniture and other things that she is claiming to have bought for me, including my clothes, have been paid for by me. After getting fed up of her intrusion, around six months ago, I gave standing instructions to the guard of my building that this woman should not be allowed to come up to my flat. She cut her wrist once and threatened me that she would have me booked for abetment of suicide. I figured out that something was amiss and that’s when I decided to distance myself from her. While she is claiming to be in a relationship even now, I distanced myself in August 2016. If you think just because I send you hugs and love you are in a relationship with me, you must be really twisted, because then I’d be in a relationship with 50,000 women. I have never robbed a woman of her dignity, but this is not normal. I am the victim here. I have lived a nightmare for these two years. The only reason I would answer her calls once in a while was to protect my family, as I feared that she could harm them with black magic. My worry was my mother and my health woes, as she claimed that she had the power to do anything. I have been through hell just because I declined her requests of getting into a relationship with her or have any kind of intimacy with her. She filed an NC against me after she learnt about my complaint. In fact, on the day of filing the NC, she called me and said that she was at the cop station and told me that she would ruin my life if I didn’t marry her the next day. I have blocked several numbers from which she called me. If you are willing to stoop to any level to get your way, where does it end?”