Actor Rahul Raj Singh has accused screenwriter and producer Mushtaq Shiekh of sexual harassment, according to a report in Mid-day. He also said that Sheikh destroyed his career in the industry.
Rahul Raj was late Pratyusha Banerjee’s boyfriend. He was charged with abetting suicide of the Balika Vadhu actor and is out on bail at present.
Rahul, then 19-year-old, says he met Mushtaq sometime in 2006 after he was a part of Grasim Mr India model in 2004. Mushtaq, who has worked with Shah Rukh Khan, Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan, Farah Khan and Ekta Kapoor, contacted him a few years later for a project.
One night, he called me at 11 pm near his house… He took me to his house, which had a single room, a bed and a lot of film posters. He told me, ‘I am going to do something to you which you are going to enjoy. It will be different, but you will like it’. I got scared.
Rahul says he lost a film offer with Mukta Arts after refusing his advances.
Rahul Raj also claims that Mushtaq sabotaged his TV career from thereon. “I was chosen for a TV serial called Amber Dhara. I was popular as the first blind hero on national television. Then I got a call from Mushtaq, telling me that he was the one who had chosen me for the role. That destroyed my confidence and self-belief.
Then I was signed up for another show called Mata Ki Chowki. He extended his offer again, that I could sleep with him to keep my job, but I refused. My character was written out of the show soon.Rahul Raj Singh
He recounted another traumatic encounter where Mushtaq allegedly sexually assaulted him. “During another show called Ganesh Leela, Mushtaq's roving eye caught me again. He told me to meet him at night for a drive. We were on a drive in Aarey Milk Colony when he suddenly grabbed my head [towards him] and started unbuttoning me [Rahul's clothes]. I got very angry and upset, and told him that I would stop the car and leave him in the middle of the jungle," recounter Rahul to Mid-day.
(Source: Mid-day)
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