A day after being booked under molestation charges, on Thursday, the Mumbai Police formed a team to search for the absconding CEO of The Viral Fever (TVF,) a digital entertainment startup. After a woman posted an anonymous blog post about the harassment she faced while working for TVF by the CEO, Arunabh Kumar has been in the news for all the wrong reasons. After this handful of women from the same organization came forward with similar accusations.
The Police went ahead and registered a FIR against Arunabh Kumar under IPC sections 354 and 509 (word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman.) A senior official speaking about the case said, “It is a non-bailable offense and we will definitely be opposing his bail plea. We want to arrest him.” The Mumbai Police from MIDC went to the TVF office to arrest Kumar, when they learned that he is absconding.
While the CEO is missing, the TVF have said that these allegations are false and are also baseless and unverified. A 26 year old woman, who works in a production house and is a writer, registered a case of molestation, which took place in May 2016. The blog by the woman said, “Right from Pitchers to Tripling, I was molested. Be it in parties where Arunabh would try to lift me or would they and fall on me pretending he is drunk.”
She also wrote in the blog that, one night he made several advances when she escaped and locked herself in the bathroom. She stayed back there until he left the office. When the girl opened up to her parents and shared the incident, he personally called them and said that the girl was cooking up stories to defame him. The police have urged the writer of the blog and other victims to file a case. They also promised a fair and impartial investigation and keep their identity a secret.
