Bhubaneswar: An assistant director of a television serial production unit has been arrested by police here for alleged sexual harassment of an Odia actress associated with the project.
Amlan Upadhaya, the accused, was arrested and subsequently produced in court in connection with a case lodged at Mahila police station on August 3.
“We arrested Amlan Upadhaya after preliminary investigation into a complaint lodged by the victim. Further investigation is underway,” an officer of the Mahila police station said.
According to the complainant, she was working in a Hindi TV serial which was being shot in Bhubaneswar under Upadhaya’s supervision.
The actress has alleged she faced prolonged harassment, stalking and circulation of AI-generated obscene images.
According to the actress, the harassment began after she met Upadhyay on the sets of the Hindi serial at Phulnakhara.
Upadhyay obtained her mobile number and began calling and messaging her, eventually making an alleged proposal to spend a night with him, the actress claimed.
“When I did not respond to his advances, he started harassing me on the shooting set. He would degrade me in front of everyone. When I complained about the constant harassment, nobody came to help me and finally I lodged a complaint with the police,” she said.
She further alleged that Upadhyay was removed from the TV serial after a senior artist also complained about his conduct.
“Following his termination from the project, he started calling me from 20-30 unknown numbers and hurled slangs at me. He even contacted my Instagram friends and planted fake stories about me,” she alleged.
“He used AI and morphed obscene photographs depicting me with him. For this reason, I lost many projects. He even once came near my apartment and enquired about me,” she alleged.
Police are examining the digital evidence submitted by the complainant.
The accused dismissed the allegations as baseless during questioning. But police found prima facie evidence supporting the actress’ allegations against him.
