Tanushree Dutta writes to top cop, seeks probe by crime branch against Patekar
Mumbai, Sep 3: Actor Tanushree Dutta on Tuesday urged the Mumbai police commissioner to order a fresh probe into her allegation of molestation against actor Nana Patekar.
Dutta demanded that the closure report filed by the police, saying that there was no evidence against Patekar, be scrapped, and the Crime Branch should take over the case.
Suburban Oshiwara police, which probed the case, in June this year filed a `B-summary' report in the Andheri metropolitan magistrate's court. A B-summary report, also called a closure report, is filed when police do not find any evidence against the accused to file a charge sheet.
Dutta's complaint against Patekar in October 2018 had set off a nationwide '#MeToo' movement, during which several well-known personalities were called out for alleged sexual harassment.
Dutta's lawyer Nitin Satpute sent an email to police commissioner Sanjay Barve on Tuesday, seeking a fresh probe by the Crime Branch.
The e-mail complaint claimed that the police did not investigate the alleged incident properly or arrest Patekar either because of fear or the "influence" of the accused.
The police filed a B-summary report despite the evidence provided to them by the complainant, it said.
Dutta had accused Patekar of harassing and misbehaving with her while shooting a song on the sets of the film "Horn Ok Pleasss" in 2008.
Patekar denied all the allegations.
Based on her complaint, a case was registered against Patekar, choreographer Ganesh Acharya, the film's producer Samee Siddiqui and director Rakesh Sarang. But the police later gave them a clean chit.
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Snake venom case: SC quashes FIR, proceedings against YouTuber Elvish Yadav
New Delhi (PTI): The Supreme Court on Thursday quashed an FIR and subsequent proceedings against YouTuber Elvish Yadav under the Wildlife (Protection) Act in the snake venom case registered by Uttar Pradesh Police in 2023.
A bench of Justices M M Sundresh and N Kotiswar Singh said the case cannot be sustained in law as the complaint under the Wildlife (Protection) Act was not filed by an authorised person.
It said that offences under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) invoked in the FIR against Yadav were based on an earlier FIR registered in Gurugram, in which a closure report has been filed.
Referring to the provisions of the Narcotics and Psychotropic Substance Act (NDPS) Act invoked in the FIR against Yadav, the bench said these cannot be invoked as the liquid substance (anti-venom) recovered from the co-accused was not a prescribed substance under the schedule.
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It referred to the earlier decisions of the court and said that the case against Yadav cannot be sustained in law, quashing the FIR and subsequent proceedings, including filing of the chargesheet and cognisance order of the trial court.
The case against Yadav was registered on November 22, 2023, and he was arrested on March 17, 2024, for the alleged use of snake venom at a rave party in Noida, Uttar Pradesh.
The controversial YouTuber challenged an Allahabad High Court order refusing to quash the chargesheet and the cognisance order of the trial court, terming it a serious offence.
On August 6 last year, the apex court stayed proceedings in the trial court against Yadav in the case.
The chargesheet alleged the consumption of snake venom as a recreational drug at "rave" parties by people, including foreigners.
Yadav's counsel had argued in the high court that no snakes, narcotics or psychotropic substances were recovered from him and no causal link was established between the applicant and the co-accused.
Though the informant was no longer an animal welfare officer, he filed the FIR showing himself to be one, the counsel had added.
Calling Yadav a "well-known influencer" and someone who appears in multiple reality shows on television, the counsel had said his involvement in the FIR garnered "much media attention".
