One of the founders of Phantom Films has been accused of molestation by a woman employee of the company. Now, an unnamed stakeholder of the company has confirmed to Mumbai Mirror that Vikas Bahl has been asked to step down from his position.
According to a report by Mumbai Mirror, a young female employee at Phantom Films had reportedly come out to reveal that she was molested by "Queen" director Vikas Bahl during a Goa trip.
After her complaint, the other partners of the company namely Anurag Kashyap, Madhu Mantena and Vikramaditya Motwane, the issue was taken to Reliance Entertainment who has 50% stake in Phantom Films.
"We (Reliance Entertainment and Phantom Films) have taken a hard stand, based on what we have heard and investigated," one of the stakeholders said anonymously. He added that decision had to be taken as it was too much.
"There are not one, two or three but multiple victims. I was in the middle of a film shoot when I came to know about the first incident and I had to stop my shoot and come to Mumbai... there is (after all) a young girl on whom an intoxicated Vikas forced himself while they were in Goa. He has behaved badly in the past as well but when this specific complaint came, we needed to act on it," the stakeholder said.
Meanwhile, Bahl, who is in Delhi, has denied the allegations of molestation against the woman employee at Phantom Films. He stated that she is not an employee, but he is friends with her.
"Nothing has happened. I am running the company. There is no complaint to HR and there is no Vishakha committee. I have heard about this particular lady you are speaking about and the Goa incident. She is not my employee. Yes, I am friends with her, we have worked together and there is a production job we have done together...but if she is feeling like this I would like to sit across a table from her and talk to her," Bahl said.
During the interview, he mentioned that he feels a "little victimized."
Stay tuned for more updates on the Vikas Bahl controversy.
