Don't want to indulge in this publicity: Maharashtra minister on Tanushree Dutta's sexual harassment allegations

In a shocking statement, Maharashtra Minister Deepak Vasant Kesarkar on Wednesday termed Tanushree Dutta’s molestation charges against Nana Patekar a “publicity stunt”. He, however, said if the actress can produce "concrete proof", action would be taken against Nana Patekar.

“Doing this for publicity is not good. I don’t want to indulge in this publicity. If there is concrete proof, action will be taken,” Kesarkar said in a video accessed by News Nation.

Bollywood actress Tanushree Dutta, who had worked in movies like Aashiq Banaya Aapne opposite Imran Hashmi, had recently revived a 10-year-old controversy in which she alleged that Nana Patekar had sexually harassed her.

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In her recent interview with Zoom TV, Tanushree, who had been away from Bollywood for quite some, alleged that Nana Patekar, a National Award-winning actor, had behaved inappropriately towards her during the shooting of a song for 2008 movie Horn OK Pleassss.

The actress had also claimed that Nana Patekar even sent goons from Raj Thackrey’s Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) to intimidate her after she walked out of shooting because of the actor’s “inappropriate” behaviour. A video of Tanushree’s car being attacked by goons in 2008 has also gone viral on the internet.

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Defending Nana Patekar, the minister said that she had been given security probably due to the attack on her car and not because of the actor in question.

“If she has been given security, it is because her car was attacked. It's not given due to Nana Patekar,” Kesarkar added.