Mumbai: TV actor in dock for demanding sexual favours from model

Parth Samthaan

The Bangur Nagar police summoned actor Parth Samthaan yesterday in connection with a sexual harassment case filed by a 20-year-old aspiring model, who claims that the actor demanded sexual favours from her.

The model had registered the complaint around a month ago. However, no action was taken by the police as the actor was not in the city, and is said to have returned only on Thursday.

The complainant is a resident of Evershine Nagar, Malad. She had met Samthaan two years ago at a party. The two had exchanged phone numbers.

According to the complainant, the two had met several times in the past couple of months at coffee shops and restaurants in the city. In the process, they became good friends.

"We would party together, and there were times when, after getting drunk, he would try to get intimate," she said.

According to police sources, when the duo met in the second week of February, the actor was again reportedly drunk.

This time, he allegedly told the complainant that if she wanted his assistance, she would have to peform sexual favours. "I told him I wasn't interested. This rejection made him angry. Later, I learnt of a WhatsApp chat wherein he had made obscene comments about me," she said.

The model then went and registered a complaint with the Bangur Nagar police. The FIR was filed on February 13.

"Since Samthaan was in Surat, the police told me they would wait for him to return," she said.

Samthaan , however, denied the allegations. "The case is bogus and there is no truth in it. The girl had filed a case in February, but nothing came out of it. I even travelled to the US during this time." He also denied the allegations about the obscene comments on WhatsApp.

When contacted, Santosh Bhandare, senior inspector of Bangur Nagar police station, said, "We have registered a case under Section 354 A (sexual harassment) of the IPC against Samthaan. We are still investigating the case."