Vikas Bahl is being accused of molesting a number of victims and has reportedly resigned from Phantom Films
Anurag Kashyap’s Phantom Films is in trouble. One of the directors on the company’s payroll has been accused of molestation. The allegations were made by a female employee against Queen director, Vikas Bahl. According to the charges, Bahl got handsy with the lady while they were on a trip to Goa. Several other colleagues apparently confirmed that the supposed crime took place.
Due to the charges by the undisclosed victim, stakeholders of Phantom Films asked Vikas Bahl to resign from his position. Accordingly, he is no longer an employee of the production house as of March 28. One of the stakeholders, who chooses to remain anonymous, has told Mumbai Mirror, “We (Reliance Entertainment and Phantom Films) have taken a hard stand, based on what we have heard and investigated.”
The source continued, “There are not one, two or three but multiple victims. I was in the middle of a film shoot when I came to know about the first incident and I had to stop my shoot and come to Mumbai. There is, after all a young girl on whom an intoxicated Vikas (Bahl) forced himself while they were in Goa. He has behaved badly in the past as well but when this specific complaint came, we needed to act on it.”
When Vikas Bahl was contacted, he was in Delhi and claimed innocence to the allegations charged against him. He said, “Nothing has happened. I am running the company. There is no complaint to HR and there is no Vishakha committee. I have heard about this particular lady you are speaking about and the Goa incident. She is not my employee.”
Vikas Bahl added, “Yes, I am friends with her, we have worked together and there is a production job we have done together. But if she is feeling like this, I would like to sit across a table from her and talk to her. I want to ask her if I have crossed a line, whether I have done anything to hurt her and if she feels that way I would like to apologize for it. I have known her for long. For two-and-a-half years she has never made me feel as if she is uncomfortable.”
According to reports, the investigation is still ongoing.
Image Source: IMDb.com
