An FIR has been filed by the Mumbai Police against actor-producer Jackky Bhagnani, and eight other high-profile people from the film industry for rape and molestation. The complaint was registered by a model-turned-songwriter who has also become an independent artist.
The report mentioned that along with Jackky, Founder of talent management agency KWAN Entertainment, Anirban Blah, photographer Colston Julian, and Krishan Kumar of T-Series, have also been named in the FIR. The model had earlier alleged that the police were taking a lot of time to register an FIR in the case and that she had also started receiving death threats from one of the accused in her complaint. The daily reported that the woman had first approached the Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), Zone 10, Dr Maheshwar Reddy on May 10 after which he directed her to Andheri Police station and asked an officer to record her statement. It was after eight days that her statement was recorded by the police, however, the case was forwarded to Zone 9 DCP office in Bandra considering most cases of the alleged sexual abuse took place in that area during 2012-2019.
The news was also carried by UK’s Independent. The daily reported that the woman has accused Jackky of molesting her, while Julian has been accused of raping her multiple times between 2014 to 2018 in her complaint. Another one named Kamat allegedly sexually harassed her at a hotel in Santa Cruz.
The woman expressed her concern over the development in the case. She was quoted as saying, “Why are the police delaying the arrest of the accused? I have submitted all the pieces of evidence that I have against these accused.” She further mentioned that it seems like Colston Julian, who’s one of the accused, has fled the city or gone underground. “In a big to conduct panchnama, one woman police officer took me to the locations where these accused sexually abused me in Mumbai. It seems that Colston Julian has gone underground as his Bandra house was locked and his car was also not there when we visited.”
The police, however, maintained that they are still in the process of verifying the model’s allegations. Inspector Sagar Nikam told the daily: “We have registered the FIR based on her complaint. We are in the process of collecting the pieces of evidence that the survivor claims to possess against them. Our investigations are underway.”
The FIR was registered under Sections 376 (n) (commits rape repeatedly on the same woman) and 354 (molestation) of the IPC on May 26. Meanwhile, Jackky, who’s the son of popular producer Vashu Bhagnani, is reportedly out of the country and is expected to come back around September. He or his family hasn’t spoken on the matter yet.
