Actor Arjun Sarja filed a Rs 5 crore defamation case against Sruthi Hariharan at the Bengaluru City Civil Court on Thursday. The case was filed by Arjun’s nephew Dhruva Sarja on his behalf.
This amidst high drama in the Kannada film industry popularly known as Sandalwood after Sruthi Hariharan alleged that Arjun Sarja had behaved with her inappropriately during a song sequence for a movie.
Arjun’s move comes a few hours after his manager filed a complaint with the cyber crime police alleging that the actor’s email and social media accounts had been hacked.
In a Facebook post, on October 19, Sruthi alleged that Arjun had behaved inappropriately on the pretext of a rehearsal. She said that he’d pulled her close to him and had run his hand on her back without her consent.
Sruthi in her post had detailed the alleged encounter with Arjun Sarja. She accused the actor of running his hands up and down her back and pulling her towards his body without her consent while rehearsing a scene during a shoot for the Kannada movie Vismaya, and Nibunan in Tamil. The duo had played the role of a husband and a wife in the film.
Reacting to the allegation, actor Arjun Sarja denied Sruthi’s account of the events and had threatened to file a defamation case against her.
"I am saddened by the allegations and I don't know how I can correct this. I will definitely file a case. I will speak about improving the shots and dialogues but I don't have the cheap mentality of using this profession to touch women inappropriately,” Arjun had said on October 21.
The director of the film, Arun Vaidyanathan too came out in support of Arjun Sarja stating that he was shocked to hear about the allegations. However, two crew members on the condition of anonymity had corroborated Sruthi's version. Also, another woman had levelled similar allegations against Arjun Sarja through an interview on Public TV.
The Karnataka Film Chamber of Commerce, which does not have an Internal Complaints Committee till date, said it will attempt to “resolve” the issue. Sruthi and Arjun are slated to meet the members of a dormant Central Reconciliation Committee of the KFCC on Thursday evening.
Veteran actor and Congress leader Ambareesh has been put in charge of mediating between Sruthi and Arjun during the meeting.