BENGALURU: Arjun Sarja, who has been accused of sexual harassment by actor Sruthi Hariharan, appeared at the Cubbon Park Police Station on Monday for questioning in connection with the case.
Sarja was questioned by the police for three hours about the allegations made by Sruthi against him during the shooting of the film, Vismaya.
According to the police, Sarja was asked over 50 questions based on the statements given by Sruthi, her make-up artiste Kiran, and assistant director Monica. Investigating officer Annayya Reddy and SI Renuka asked him about the events listed in Sruthi’s complaint. Sarja said the allegations were made to malign his reputation, the police said.
When asked if he knew Sruthi before the shooting, Sarja replied that he was not present during the audition, and first met her the day the shooting began.According to the police, Sruthi stated in her complaint that Sarja introduced unnecessary romantic scenes, to which he replied that it was the director’s decision. “He also denied any sexual harassment during rehearsals, saying that rehearsals happen in front of many people,” the police stated.
Sarja was asked about allegedly meeting Sruthi at the Devanahalli traffic signal and inviting her to a resort. He replied that though he did encounter her, he never spoke to her, and only a smile was exchanged, according to the police. When Sarja was told that she had eyewitness accounts about his inviting her to the resort, he said, “They are her people and they can claim to witness anything.”
Arjun was accompanied by his cousin Dhruva Sarja, friend Prashanth Sambargi, BJP MLC Tejaswini Ramesh, and a few others for the questioning. Tejaswini told the media that she had come to support Sarja in her personal capacity and not as party representative.
“Some left-leaning people are trying to target PM Modi by targeting Sarja. His father was an RSS follower. Prakash Raj, Chetan and Kavita Lankesh are all against the PM,” Tejaswini said.Meanwhile, police said that Vismaya director Arun Vaidynath, producer Umesh, executive producer Arinith and cinematographer Arvind supported Sarja.