Riya harassed?
Actor Riya Sen and producer Suresh Bhagat are apparently locked in a bitter battle over alleged misbehaviour, wherein Riya has claimed that she was 'harassed' by the producer when she was in Simla.
The actor, in a written complaint to Cine And TV Artists' Association (CINTAA), has alleged that she was harassed and misbehaved with by the producer. Suresh Bhagat, for his part, has alleged that Riya had been pressurising him for money and had even his son Sahil text messages in an intoxicated state.
A letter forwarded to After Hrs states that she had sent three letters against the producer alleging misbehaviour. "We are shocked to hear that a vulnerable young lady actor was humiliated by you in the most degrading manner. The kind of unruly behaviour towards a young lady is totally uncalled for," writes Raza Murad, the chairman of the Dispute Settlement Committee of CINTAA in the letter dated September 18.
The actor also confirmed that she had lodged a complaint with the CINTAA, but didn't want to go into the details of the nature of the 'humiliation' that she had gone through. Her friends confirmed that she hasn't yet pressed for sexual harassment charge or gone to the police. They further revealed that the alleged incident had occurred in Shimla about a month before.
When we got in touch with Suresh, he admitted that he had yelled at her because Riya had reported intoxicated on the sets. Suresh also forwarded to After Hrs a printout of the text messages from her phone to his son Sahil, where she admits that she had a drink too many on the sets of the film. The printout of the text messages along with a formal complaint has been lodged with the CINTAA on August 27.
"Riya drank regularly on my set...she tried to blackmail me," alleges the complaint letter. The producer alleges in the letter that Riya had started demanding more money for petrol and her personal assistant, which would run up to Rs 7,000 a day. The filmmaker had attached a copy of the text messages in a printout which shows that nine text messages were sent from Riya to Sahil Bhagat.