Tanushree Dutta-Nana Patekar #MeToo case gets a twist, new report suggests they weren't even dancing together

Written By DNA Web Team | Updated: Jun 20, 2019, 11:30 AM IST

Tanushree Dutta had claimed that Nana Patekar assaulted her while dancing on the song, however an eyewitness clarified that they were grooving at a distance

Tanushree Dutta and Nana Patekar are currently at war. Nana Patekar, who received a clean chit on the #MeToo case due to no prima facie case (B Summary report). For the unitiated, A 'B summary' report is filed when police can not find evidence in support of the complaint and are unable to continue the investigation.

Tanushree Dutta's case of #MeToo was filed against Nana Patekar after she accused the actor of harassing her on the sets of Horn Ok Pleasss. Tanushree, who was supposed to be part of the item song, walked out of the song claiming that Nana Patekar changed shots at end moments to get closer to her and harass her while shooting for the song, touching her inappropriately. In an interview with SpotBoye, Tanushree mentioned how doing the movie was a wrong decision. She said, "Wrong place was Horn 'OK' Pleassss. Wrong people were Nana Patekar, Ganesh Acharya and the gang. I should not have taken up that film. It all began when I saw Nana Patekar on the set  around 6-7 am when he was not required. And mind you, he was staring at me like a freak. I had been told that it was my solo song. I checked with the director (Rakesh Sarang), who then told me that he is required for just one line. He shot for that one line of his, but continued to be on the set. When I told him 'Hello', he didn't even reciprocate. Slowly he started coming closer. Next day, he was even more closer. And then, he started behaving bizarre. He asked Ganesh Acharya (choreographer, whom I had recommended for that song) to move out, grabbed me by my arm, and started telling me: Idhar khadi ho ja, Udhar khadi ho jaa. He wanted to teach me how I should dance."

However Bollywood Hungama caught their hands on two witnesses who claims that all the allegations are false. One eyewitness, an actress who was an assistant choreographer then, recorded that Nana Patekar confessed to Ganesh Acharya that he is not a good dancer and hence there were extensive dance rehearsals. The eyewitness mentioned that Tanushree was already training in the studio since three days. This eyewitness added they were confused when Tanushree stormed out, narrating that when the song started, Nana and Tanushree were several feet away, surrounded by 300-400 dancers. Another junior choreographer had a similar experience, adding that the two had to perform the same dance steps, but from a distance.

Tanushree recently claimed that Nana Patekar and the police tampered with evidence and did not let the evidence from her side reach police. “At about 5 am, I got a call from a friend who told me about it. This is disgusting, because Nana Patekar has been trying to get a clean chit for a while now. I have also mentioned this earlier in an interview that our witnesses have been getting threat calls, and they are being intimidated and pressured in every way so that they do not record their statements with the police. We have 10 witnesses. Only one-and-a-half statements have been recorded. The others have not even come forward, as they have got threat calls. Cops say that there is lack of evidence. How will credible evidence be produced, if the accused is making sure that no evidence against him reaches the police? The witnesses that the police have recorded the statements (in his favour) from, are his friends. From the unit present during the time of the shoot back then, no one was really my friend. Also, the witnesses did not say nothing happened, they said, they don’t remember anything,” she told Times of India over a phone call.