Comedian Utsav Chakraborty, who has been accused of sexually harassing women and minor girls on social media, has countered the charge against him that he had asked an underage girl for her nude photographs.
On 4 October, a volley of allegations against Utsav — a YouTuber associated with popular Indian comedy sketch group AIB — cropped up after a woman Twitter user wrote Utsav had sent unsolicited pictures of private parts to women and harassed girls, including minors, through social media platforms.
On Friday, Utsav tweeted in his defence saying “it’s a little too late now”, and apologised for his “scary truth”.
“It’s a little too late now but I am sorry. I really am. The past 24 hours were a crucible. I faced a very scary personal truth. I can’t think of myself as a victim anymore. Please tell me what to do now. How to make things right? I don’t want anyone to be hurt anymore,” he posted.
Also read: AIB says pulling out videos featuring Utsav Chakraborty accused of sexual harassment
Utsav further clarified that he never asked an underage person for nudes and was ready to “take due course of the law”.
Earlier, the Mumbai Police took note of the woman Twitter user’s posts and said, “We will look into this on priority.” On the other hand, AIB delisted every video featuring Utsav on its channels and shared an official statement on Twitter.
Statement pic.twitter.com/eLpthXifwf
— All India Bakchod (@AllIndiaBakchod) October 4, 2018
Among all this chaos, another comedian’s name popped up in a tweet. Co-founder of East India Comedy Sapan Verma was accused of catcalling. However, Verma immediately responded to the allegations and straightaway denied any such misconduct.
“Hello! What has happened yesterday has been extremely appalling & heart-breaking. However, I can very confidently verify that this below did not happen. I’m also happily open to any investigation by any authorities. Thank you,” he wrote.
Hello! What has happened yesterday has been extremely appalling & heart-breaking.
However, I can very confidently verify that this below did not happen.
I’m also happily open to any investigation by any authorities.
Thank you. https://t.co/U0P5gqowuf— Sapan Verma (@sapanv) October 5, 2018
On Thursday, Utsav took to Twitter to share his official statement after he was ‘exposed’. The tweets, however, were not available anymore at the time of writing.
Previously, Arunabh Kumar, the founder of TVF, had faced similar accusations and later stepped down from his position.