Rajkumar Hirani accused of sexual assault by female employee who worked on Sanju; filmmaker denies charges

Rajkumar Hirani has been accused of sexual assault by a woman who worked with him in the Ranbir Kapoor starrer Sanju . According to a HuffPost India report, the woman said she was sexually abused more than once over a six month period between March and September 2018. Hirani, via a statement, has denied these charges. “I was completely shocked when these allegations were brought to my notice about two months back. I had suggested immediately that it is essential to take this matter to any committee or any legal body. The complainant has chosen to go to the media instead. I want to very strongly state that this is a false malicious and mischievous story being spread with the sole intention of destroying my reputation.” In an email dated 3 November 2018 to Sanju producer and Hirani’s business associate Vidhu Vinod Chopra, the woman alleged that much of the assault took place during the post-production stage of the film. Marked in the email were Chopra’s wife Anupama, who is the director of Mumbai Film Festival (MAMI) and Vinod Chopra Films Pvt Ltd, Sanju writer Abhijat Joshi as well as Shelly Chopra, who is Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s sister and the director of Ek Ladki Ko Dekha To Aisa Laga , states HuffPost. [caption id=“attachment_4936321” align=“alignnone” width=“825”] Rajkumar Hirani[/caption] The email states that on 9 April 2018, Hirani made a sexually inappropriate remark and then sexually assaulted her at his home office. Hirani, through his lawyer Anand Desai, has denied the allegations and called them  “false, mischievous, scandalous, motivated and defamatory”, reports HuffPost. HuffPost reported that it spoke to three of her friends, who corroborated her charge.

When Chopra was asked about the allegations, he did not respond. However, his wife Anupama in an email to HuffPost said that the woman had shared her account with her, and she had their full support. Anupama also mentioned that Vidhu Vinod Chopra Pvt Lt had set up an Internal Complaints Committee (ICC).