TVF's Chief Arunabh Kumar has been in the news for past couple of days but this time around for all the wrong reasons. A story titled 'The Indian Uber- That is TVF' appeared on Medium by a user named Indian Fowler on March 12, 2017 which claimed that she is an ex-employee of TVF and was molested by Arunabh on several occasions.
Now Medium is a platform where anyone can create an account and publish their stories hence the identity of the accuser has not been verified and neither has the story.
On March 13, TVF released an official response to this story, they posted a comment on the same post (see below)
After this response it looked like the story has ended and this was just a prank, but things got more heated up when 2 more girls commented on the same post stating that they have faced the same issue during their interaction with Arunabh. First one to comment was Aayushi Agarwal, who claimed to be an ex-employee and wrote the following (see below)
The second comment came from Reema Sengupta who has worked with Arunabh as a director for one of the TVF's web series - here's what she posted on her Facebook account (see below)
Replying to the accusations Arunabh told Mumbai Mirror, in an interview,
Also, when asked about the accusation made by Reema Sengupta, he told Mumbai Mirror
The TVF's core team has been very supportive to Arunabh during this whole dilemma, now Nidhi Bisht who has been a part of TVF since the very beginning took on her Twitter handle and wrote this (see below)
But when when comments started coming in from other girls accusing that they have faced the same exploitation while working for TVF, this is what Nidhi posted few hours later on her Facebook wall (see below)
As per the fresh reports so far more than 9 women have come forward with different incidents involving molestation/harrasment which included from several Ex-employees, his IIT-Kharagpur batchmate to Arunabh's neighbour.
Even comedian Aditi Mittal and Rohan has condemned this whole issue and demanded an impartial investigation, here's what they tweeted (see below)
TVF and Arunabh continues to rubbish all the allegations that are being made. But will they just stop commenting on this very serious matter and conduct a internal probe? Only time will tell.
On March 13, TVF released an official response to this story, they posted a comment on the same post (see below)
After this response it looked like the story has ended and this was just a prank, but things got more heated up when 2 more girls commented on the same post stating that they have faced the same issue during their interaction with Arunabh. First one to comment was Aayushi Agarwal, who claimed to be an ex-employee and wrote the following (see below)
The second comment came from Reema Sengupta who has worked with Arunabh as a director for one of the TVF's web series - here's what she posted on her Facebook account (see below)
Replying to the accusations Arunabh told Mumbai Mirror, in an interview,
TVF had not hired anyone from Muzaffarpur in the last three years. He asserted that TVF has asked Medium to ascertain the authenticity of the post. If the post is found to be fake, it will be removed.
Also, when asked about the accusation made by Reema Sengupta, he told Mumbai Mirror
Yes, Sengupta worked for his company, but rubbished the allegations. He said that the insinuations on the post are untrue. He further said that he is extremely particular about his behaviour. I am a heterosexual, single man and when I find a woman sexy, I tell her she’s sexy... I will approach a woman, but never force myself.
The TVF's core team has been very supportive to Arunabh during this whole dilemma, now Nidhi Bisht who has been a part of TVF since the very beginning took on her Twitter handle and wrote this (see below)
Even comedian Aditi Mittal and Rohan has condemned this whole issue and demanded an impartial investigation, here's what they tweeted (see below)