#MeToo: Mumbai police to close case against Alok Nath

Vinta Nanda

Ten months after screenwriter Vinta Nanda filed a rape case against actor Alok Nath, the Oshiwara police are likely to file a closure report for 'lack of evidence'. Nanda had, on October 8 last year, posted her ordeal on social media.

She later filed a complaint with the Oshiwara police and Nath was booked for rape in November last year. The Oshiwara police, however, seem to be lacking sufficient evidence against the accused to file a charge sheet in the matter. "We have recorded a detailed statement of the victim. Two witnesses were called to the police station a number of times but they haven't yet recorded their statements," said an officer at the Oshiwara police station. The witnesses details were revealed to the police by Nanda while she narrated the 20-year-old incident to them. The writer-producer accused Alok Nath of raping her during the shoot of TV serial Tara in the 1990s, in which Nath played the lead role.

Also Read: Rape case against Alok Nath lodged on basis of false report

Accused Alok Nath of raping her in the 1990s. File pics

Nath filed a counter defamation suit against Nanda, in which he sought a written apology, along with a compensation of Re 1 and a restraining order. Nath was expelled by CINTAA for not showing up before the executive committee in October. In January this year, the sessions court granted him relief from arrest. "The rape case against Alok Nath was lodged on the basis of a defamatory and false report of complainant Vinta Nanda," the sessions court observed while granting pre-arrest bail to the Bollywood actor against a surety bond of Rs 5 lakh. Additional sessions court judge SS Oza said the complaint was a "personal vendetta". The judge had observed that while the complainant remembered the entire incident but did not remember the date and month of the incident. Over news of the police planning to close the case, Nanda's lawyer Dhruti Kapadia said, "Let the police do whatever they are planning, we will take it forward accordingly."

Also Read: Alok Nath finally breaks his silence

Other cases face similar fate. Another Me Too case in which an FIR was filed at Versova police station was that of actress Kritika Sharma where she had alleged casting director Vicky Sidana of molesting her. In her case as well, the police have no witnesses to probe the matter further. They are thus taking the opinion of a legal team to file a closure report. Kritika had shared the experience she had in 2013 when she met Sidana for an audition. In the case of actor Tanushree Dutta, too, the Oshiwara police filed a closure report on June 13. Dutta had accused actor Nana Patekar of sexual harassment during the shoot of a song in 2008. After an eight-month-long probe, cops in its report have said there was no evidence against the accused and the witnesses' statements did not support Dutta's story. The closure report also said that the case against Patekar was filed with malicious intentions. This was later challenged by Dutta in an Andheri court and she also filed a protest petition saying the police were only recording statements of the witnesses who are in support of Patekar.

08 October
Day in 2018, Nanda shared her ordeal on social media

Also Read: Vinta Nanda slams Ajay Devgn for working with Alok Nath in DDPD: Box Office is their only dharma

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