Tanmay Bhat and Gursimran Khamba, both stand-up comedians and co-founders of the popular creative agency All India Bakchod (AIB), will not be involved in the day-to-day functioning of the company, anymore. After a long silence of over seven months, the company provided 'an update' of the state of matters on their official social media handles on May 22, Wednesday.
They announced, "Tanmay Bhat's lapse of judgement regarding Utsav Chakraborty was egregious. As a result, even though Tanmay Bhat's suspension has been lifted, he will no longer hold the position of CEO."
They further clarified, "With regards to Gursimran Khamba, an External Committee (EC) was appointed to look into the allegation made against him in October. The EC comprised of two experienced senior members - a senior partner at a law firm and a diversity consultant - and its mandate was to conduct a fair investigation into the matter. As required in such cases, the proceedings remain confidential. However, during the course of the investigation, we were informed that Gursimran Khamba had stepped away from the process, citing issues with procedure. The EC was unable to conclude the investigation on account of his withdrawal. Given these circumstances, Gursimran Khamba will no longer be involved in operations at AIB, and will be working independent of us."
"Rohan Joshi and Ashish Shakya will continue to manage the remaining affairs at AIB, but will also be pursuing solo interests in the coming future," they added.
The note also threw light on what conspired in the company in the last few months. "We had to let our office space and entire team go overnight. Production, creative, admin, all of it," the Instagram post revealed.
Read the full note here :
For the uninitiated, On October 8, 2018, Khamba and Bhat were asked to leave AIB amid their involvement and complicit behavior in separate sexual harassment allegations. Bhat was accused of ignoring complaints of sexual misconduct and harassment leveled against Utsav Chakraborty—a former company employee and frequent collaborator—and apologized on Twitter for continuing a professional relationship between AIB and him regardless.
In a separate incident an unnamed woman accused Khamba of violating her consent and emotional abuse. Khamba has denied these allegations. Subsequently Bhat was asked to step away from the company and Khamba was put on indefinite leave. The two were also fired from various roles they individually held on other shows.
The company's web television show was cancelled entirely by its network, mid-season. In October, 2018, the company was temporarily shut down and was steering towards permanent closure.
Since January, 2019, Joshi and Shakya have re-entered the comedy circuit, while Bhat and Khamba have not issued any further updates.
