Rape case against producer Bhushan Kumar closed, HC told

Bollywood producer Bhushan Kumar withdraws his petition to quash a rape case against him as police submit a closure report stating the complaint was false.

Bollywood producer Bhushan Kumar, who had moved the Bombay high court seeking a direction to quash a rape case registered against him in July 2021, withdrew his petition on Thursday as a metropolitan magistrate court in Andheri had accepted the closure report submitted by police.

NEW DELHI, INDIA- 16 SEPTEMBER 2017: INDIAN FILM PRODUCER BHUSHAN KUMAR POSING FOR A PROFILE SHOOT EXCLUSIVELY FOR HT CITY- HINDUSTAN TIMES AT HOTEL LE-MERIDIAN IN NEW DELHI ON SEPTEMBER 16, 2017. (PHOTO: SHIVAM SAXENA/HINDUSTAN TIMES)

The DN Nagar police filed a B summary report (closure report) in the rape case after their investigation found that the complaint was false, counsel for Kumar informed a division bench of justice PD Naik and justice NR Borkar.

The case was registered on July 16, 2021, after a 30-year-old woman claimed that she was sexually exploited by the T-Series managing director on the promise of work in his projects.

The complainant had told the police that she was always interested in acting and had approached the producer in September 2017 when he was sitting next to her at a hotel and one of her acquaintances pointed out that he could provide her work.

She said he then gave her his personal contact number and asked her to call him the next day. When she called him, he asked her to download an app and contact him through it, the FIR said.

She alleged that on October 14, 2017, Kumar called her to his bungalow in Andheri West for discussing work-related issues and raped her. He allegedly told her she would have to compromise if she wanted to enter the film industry. He also told her that he had recorded a video of the act and threatened to make it viral if she revealed the incident to anyone, the woman alleged in the complaint.

The complainant further said the producer exploited her even after the incident and her ordeal continued till August 2020. She claimed that she did not approach the police as he was an influential figure and only after one of her friends encouraged her after she confided in him that she mustered courage to lodge a police complaint.

Kumar had denied the allegation and claimed that the woman had in fact worked under T-Series banner in films and music videos. “The complaint filed against Bhushan Kumar is completely false and malicious and the contents of the same are denied,” the production house had said in a statement released soon after registration of the FIR and added that it was an attempt to extort money from them.

On November 29, 2022, the producer filed a petition in the high court through Parinam Law Associates.