T-Series MD Bhushan Kumar booked for rape

A senior officer said: “An FIR has been registered under sections 376 (rape), 420 (cheating), 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code.”

The complainant told the police that she had first met Kumar in September 2017 at a hotel in Mumbai. She went up to Kumar, introduced herself and asked for work in the film industry, she added.

“He gave me his cellphone number and asked me to contact him. I contacted him the next day on WhatsApp… he asked me to send him my photographs, which I did. Soon after, he asked me to download Telegram for further communication,” she said in her statement to the police.

“On October 14, he hid me in his car and took me to his bungalow… At that time, there was no one there,” she added.

The woman claimed that during the meeting, Kumar sought sexual favours but was rebuffed by her. She alleged that Kumar then went on to rape her and video taped the assault. He also blackmailed her and threatened to make the recording public, the woman claimed.

In her statement, the woman said that she was raped multiple times at different locations after this. She added that she went into depression and wanted to die by suicide. She then started working at a private company, where she became friends with a man and confided in him. He encouraged her to approach the police, said the woman.

In a statement, T Series denied all allegations. “Around March 2021, she approached Mr Bhushan Kumar seeking help to fund one of the web-series which she wanted to produce, which was politely refused. Thereafter, in June 2021, after the lifting of lockdown in Maharashtra, she started approaching the T-Series banner in collusion with her accomplice, demanding huge sum of money as extortion amount,” the statement said.

It added that consequently, a police complaint was filed by T-Series against the extortion bid on July 1. “We also have evidence in the form of audio recording for the extortion attempt and the same shall be provided to investigating agency,” the statement said.

The police said they have received a complaint from T-Series against the woman and investigation is on.