KOLKATA: Renowned filmmaker and theatre personality Sudipto Chatterjee was arrested here on Friday for allegedly raping an actor-student of his theatre group on multiple occasions since December last year, police said.
The matter surfaced on Wednesday night after the woman took to a social networking website to post her complaint about the alleged crime.
"The victim alleged that the accused raped her a number of times since last year on the pretext of teaching her various breathing techniques that helped in acting. We have arrested the filmmaker and launched a probe into the complaint," a senior officer of the Kolkata Police said.
The lady had lodged a complaint at the Phoolbagan police station on Friday morning.
Chatterjee was first detained by the police and later, arrested from his Phoolbagan residence in the evening.
During interrogation, the accused confessed to his crime, the officer said.
Police sources said another female member of the theatre group lodged a complaint, accusing the theatre personality of raping her, on Friday.
Chatterjee has taught at several universities in India, US and UK including the National School of Drama and the Heritage Academy.
As per reports, students staged a protest inside the college campus on Thursday demanding justice for the woman.
The woman alleged that Chatterjee was a serial offender and filed a police complaint along with another survivor.
"I filed an official complaint with the institution against this rapist on Monday (14th of October, 2019). Today, (i.e, Wednesday, 16th of October, 2019), I was called for a meeting at the college and during the same meeting the authority had informed me that Sudipto Chatterjee had ‘apparently‘ submitted his resignation yesterday (i.e, Tuesday, 15th of October, 2019)," she wrote on Facebook.
I was called for a meeting at the college and during the same meeting the authority had informed me that Sudipto Chatterjee had ‘apparently‘ submitted his resignation yesterday (i.e, Tuesday, 15th of October, 2019).
After her post went viral, two other women have spoken up against Chatterjee. The accused professor, as per the college, has resigned from his post.
According to the authorities, Chatterjee was called by the college's human resources department after the student complained and was told that the college had zero tolerance for sexual abuse, reported NDTV.
The college also reconstituted its internal complaints committee on Thursday as the earlier committee did not have a student representative as required by UGC guidelines.
(With Online Desk Inputs)