TMKOC actress says Asit Kumarr Modi wanted to kiss her, would ask her for drinks repeatedly: ‘I was shivering’

The actress shared with ETimes, “March 2019, Singapore mein hum the. Humari puri team thi jahan par Asit ji ne mujhe sabse zyada verbally harass kia, sexually jo cheezein boli. March 7, 2019 was my marriage anniversary, 8 March ko unhone mereko bola ‘Abhi toh tumhari anniversary khatam hogayi, abhi kahe ka guilt, aa jana mere room mein, whisky peete hain.’ Maine avoid kia. Fir unhone mujhe agle din bola, ‘Tumhari room partner toh raat ko chali jati hai, ghumne jati hai, tum kya karti ho akele room mein? Aa jaya karo, whisky peete hain’. Maine fir ignore kia ki baahar hun, anjaan desh mein hun, kya karungi? Mere husband nahi hain. Koi nahi hai. (March 2019, we were in Singapore. Our entire team was there and Asit harassed me verbally, saying some sexual stuff. March 7, 2019 was my marriage anniversary. On March 8, he told me, ‘Now your anniversary is over, now what is there to feel guilty about? Come to my room, we will have some whisky. I avoided. The next day he told me, ‘Your roommate goes out every night. What do you do alone? Come to my room, we’ll have some whisky.’ I ignored him again because I thought I am in a foreign country, what will I do? My husband is not there. No one is there.)”

She then detailed the incident that left her ‘shivering’. “Finally unhone mujhe bola. Main ek jagah khadi thi, coffee nikal rahi, voh ekdum mere baju mein aise aaye, dheere se unhone bola, ‘Tumhare honth bade sundar hain, aise lagta hai pakad ke kiss kar lo.’ Main aise shiver hone lagi. Maine socha yeh kya kar rahe hain? Kya bol rahe hain? Meri room partner room mein rehti nahi hai. Raat ko room mein aa gaye toh main kya karungi? Itna darr tha mujhe. (Finally one day he told me. I was getting coffee and he came and stood next to me and said slowly, ‘Your lips are so beautiful. I feel like kissing them.’ I started shivering. I thought what is he doing? What is he saying? My roommate isn’t there at night. If he comes in at night, what will I do? I was scared.)”

The actress said that she called her husband and he asked her to come back immediately. “Maine kaha kaise shoot chhod ke aaun? Kya karu? Matlab itna dari hui thi ki mujhe samajh mein bhi nahi aa raha tha ki kya karu. (I said how do I leave the shoot midway. What do I do? I was so scared that I couldn’t figure out what to do.)”

She then shared that she told two of her colleagues about the incident and one of them spoke to Asit and told him to not bother the actress. The other colleague would spread their arms protecting her anytime Asit was near her but she added that they did that jokingly as even they couldn’t confront him as he was their producer as well. She added that she chose to stay silent because she was getting paid for her work and she needed the money.

Previously, Asit Kumarr Modi’s team said they will respond to the allegations legally. He said in 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.” Production head Sohil Ramani refuted the allegations and told indianexpress.com, “All this is done for cheap publicity. If there was any kind of harassment, she could have reached out to the authorities earlier. Our production house also has a committee for any kind of issues for women, and she could have complained to them too. We will respond to all her allegations legally and are already working towards the same. It’s only a tactic to defame us, our show and our production house.”

Mumbai police has started an inquiry into the complaint of sexual harassment against producer Asit Kumarr Modi and two crew members.