More Allegations of Sexual Harassment Against TVF’s Arunabh Kumar

Following an article published on Medium.com that accuses the founder of The Viral Fever (TVF), Arunabh Kumar, of sexual harassment, multiple women have come forward with similar allegations. Speaking exclusively to The Quint, a woman who formerly worked with TVF as a freelancer, alleged that Kumar had groped her during a meeting at his house.

“I was in shock. He was looking straight into my eyes. I rushed out of the room. The meeting resumed shortly after and lasted another 20 minutes. At the end of it, I walked out of TVF, never to return,” she added.

TVF has issued a statement rubbishing the allegations made in the Medium.com article. They called it “ludicrous and defamatory” and “categorically false, baseless and unverified”.

While calling the Medium.com article “completely baseless”, TVF core team member, Nidhi Bisht, has written in a Facebook post that she was shocked to hear multiple women level sexual harassment charges at Kumar.

Earlier in the day, this is what she had tweeted.

‘It’s Time We Do a Quicky’

The controversy started after an anonymous post on Medium.com alleging sexual harassment against Kumar went viral. Here’s an excerpt:

“I am abruptly called by Arunabh at 6.45 pm. I am in the local bank towards my home. He demands I come back to office. Apparently, I have not finished some part of my work. I reluctantly come back. There are three people in office. Two of them leave within five minutes of me coming in. And Arunabh is sitting on a chair in a casual manner. I walk up to him. He looks at me and asks me – ?“Chaturbhuj Sthan ka naam suni ho”? I am stunned. For non-starters, Chaturbhuj Sthan is the Red-Light district of Muzaffarpur. I didn’t respond. His second question – “Humko Chaturbhuj Sthan bahut pasand hai. Udhar commercial deals hoti hain. Tum bhi to commercial deal pe aayi ho”. I was getting where he was leading the discussion to. I avoided an interaction.”

The post goes on to detail another incident of sexual harassment during a meeting at the TVF office, and says,

The Ola team was meeting him and we were taking notes. He walks out of the meeting with some excuse and calls me for some notes. I walk up. He says it’s time we do a ‘quicky’. I am stunned. And I told him I will go to the police. He says, “Police to meri pocket me hai”. I walked out deciding never to come back.

100% Sure That the Blog is Fake: Naveen Kasturia

The Quint spoke to actor Naveen Kasturia, who has, in the past, worked on TVF productions, including the web series, Pitchers. Kasturia, accused of laughing off the victim’s accounts of harassment when she approached him, countered the allegations by asserting that he is “100% sure that the blog is fake”.

‘He Would Repeatedly Graze My Waist’

Another woman has come out with allegations against TVF founder Arunabh Kumar. In an exclusive interview to The Quint, she recounts, “Early last year, I was shooting with Arunabh in the TVF office, for a web series on people who changed professions to follow their passions. The first time we met at the recce, he asked me to send him my work, which I did out of courtesy. When we met on the day of the shoot, I asked him if he had seen the links. To this he said – why don’t you come over to my place and we can watch them together. We can also watch a movie. Which movie do you want to watch? I politely evaded the question and continued briefing him about the shoot.”

She adds, “I had to speak to my producer to ensure that I was not left alone with him at any point of time. Later when I spoke to someone at my agency about it, she said that she too had heard similar accounts of Arunabh. At the end of that shoot, I didn’t retaliate and shrugged it off. On seeing the medium.com post, I realised that I shouldn’t have. If this is how he could behave with me, without knowing me, within 5 hours, I can’t imagine how he’d behave with women working for him for years.”

'Arunabh Asked Me If I Would Strip Naked for Him'

Not just TVF employees, but a former IIT batchmate of Arunabh Kumar has also come forward with an alleged instance of sexual misdemeanour by the TVF founder.

Speaking to The Quint, she says, “This incident took place in 2012 in Mumbai. I had messaged Arunabh because he was a former batchmate from IIT-Kharagpur.”

‘He Came From Behind and Held Me, Even When I Told Him to Move Away’

A young woman also echoed similar experiences with Kumar when she told The Quint about how Kumar invited her to his place and then grabbed her waist from behind. She said:

'He Slid His Hands Down My Back, From Neck to Waist'

One of Arunabh’s neighbours has also alleged sexual harassment. Speaking to The Quint, she said, “One day, I was talking on the phone and walking outside the studio when Arunabh spotted me and called me. I looked at him, just smiled, and he gestured me to walk to him and put his arms around me. Out of nowhere, he started telling me that he had just came back from some place in Ratnagiri, and brought mangoes.”

‘It’s Just Your Word Against His’: Not Just Kumar, TVF Culture Also Under the Scanner

The sexual allegations which are coming to the fore, are not just against Kumar. In an exclusive interview to The Quint, a former employee of TVF spoke out against her experience of sexual harassment. She said:

“The next day I filed a complaint stating that I was not in a sober state of mind and he was trying to take advantage of me, and the entire experience was very shocking and disturbing. I told the HR in Delhi office, telling them everything, but there was no response. Then, I wrote a formal email to the Bombay office, again no action was taken.”

Commenting on the workplace environment at TVF, she said,

TVF's Response: Allegations Ludicrous

TVF has released a statement that calls the allegations in the Medium.com article “completely ludicrous and defamatory against TVF and its team”.

“All the allegations made against TVF and its team in the article are categorically false, baseless and unverified. We take a lot of pride in our team and in making TVF a safe workplace that is equally comfortable for women and men.”

TVF though has not made it clear whether there was any internal probe within the organisation on the matter, and if the allegations of the article being “ludicrous” were made without an investigation.

Kumar did not respond to The Quint’s phone calls and email. A detailed questionnaire to him included whether he would consider stepping down from his position at TVF to facilitate an internal probe into these allegations.

Speaking exclusively to The Quint, actor-writer at TVF, Biswapati Sarkar, said,

Amit Golani, a director at TVF tweeted about the issue too.

No Laughing Matter: Leading Comedians React

Aditi Mittal, a female comedian, in a series of tweets questioned the comedian community’s silence:

She even questioned Golani about his tweet.

As a barrage of fresh testimonies keep surfacing, is it not time for The Viral Fever to stop rubbishing the allegations and begin an internal probe into the matter?

If you have undergone a similar experience, please email The Quint’s reporters at maanvi@thequint.com and meghnad.bose@thequint.com. We would like to assure you that anonymity will be maintained at every step.