Mumbai's music circles were jolted after Juhu Police registered an FIR against well-known singer and music composer Aditya Ram Shankar. A young woman has accused him of building physical relations with her over a long period on the assurance of marriage, only to allegedly deceive her in the end. Treating the matter as serious, police are preparing to send him a notice and summon him for questioning soon. The moment the case surfaced, it set off a buzz across the music industry and social media.
They Met About A Year Ago
According to the complaint, the woman first met Aditya Ram Shankar roughly a year ago through a common friend, and the two gradually grew close. She alleges that he took her to a hotel in Juhu, Mumbai, and had sexual relations with her on the promise of marriage. This, she says, was not a one-time incident but happened several times. Whenever she pressed him about marriage, he reportedly kept stalling.
Refused, Citing Caste
The woman says that on 25 May she once again asked Aditya and his family pointedly about when the marriage would take place. Aditya allegedly responded that she did not belong to their caste, so a marriage was not possible. That, she realised, was when it became clear she had been repeatedly lured with the false hope of marriage and then betrayed. She has since approached the police, demanding the strictest and swiftest action against him. A case has been registered under Section 69 of the BNS.
A Parallel Case Linked To 'Dhurandhar'
This is not an isolated incident. Earlier, Chandigarh Police had registered a case on 26 May at the Sector-17 station against Saini S Johre, the production designer of the film 'Dhurandhar'. A woman had alleged that Johre called her to a five-star hotel in Chandigarh on the pretext of work, spiked her drink with an intoxicant, sexually harassed her and held her hostage through the night. Even before the arrest and before the allegations became public, the internal POSH committee of the film's production house, B62 Studios, had found Saini Johre guilty of sexual harassment. His name was subsequently removed from the credits of the film and its sequel.
