Swastika Mukherjee lodges complaint against film producer for threat emails, morphed pics: ‘Threatened to drag me to CM’

Actor Swastika Mukherjee made some serious accusations against a film producer named Sandeep Sarkar who is co-producing her upcoming Bengali film, Shibpur. Ahead of the film’s release, the actor claimed that she received threatening emails from Sandeep and his associates to ‘cooperate’ with them. She also said that they also claimed to have her morphed, ‘nude’ pictures which they threatened to leak on pornography websites. Also read: Swastika Mukherjee asks why she is called a ‘Bengali actress’ and not an ‘Indian actress’

Last month, Swastika has lodged a complaint at Kolkata’s Golf Green Police Station. She also sought help from the Eastern India Motion Pictures Association (EIMPA). Shibpur is a political thriller, directed by Arindam Bhattacharya. Besides Swastika, it also has Parambrata Chatterjee, Rajatava Dutta, Mamata Shankar, Kharaj Mukhopadhyay, Susmita Mukherjee, and a few more in key roles.

Talking about her harassment, Swastika told OTT play, “It all started pretty randomly. During the entire course of shooting and dubbing, I have never been introduced to Sandeep Sarkar. It was another co-producer Ajanta Sinha Roy who communicated with us. Suddenly, Sandeep Sarkar started sending me threatening emails. He claimed that he was an American citizen and that if I didn’t ‘cooperate’ with them he would get in touch with the US Consulate so that I never get a US visa. He also threatened to drag me to the Police Commissioner, Chief Minister, and so on. Now I have absolutely no idea what this ‘cooperation’ means. I shot the film and dubbed it and I never intended not to participate in promotional activities. Initially, the film was scheduled to release in March. I emailed my available dates to them. There was no response. Later, they shifted the release. And yet they did not bother to let me know. I got to know it from our director and again mailed him my available dates. By then he was supposed to helm the promotional activities. Now, what are they even talking about? There have been no marketing or PR plans that I received. In fact, when they released the poster, I shared it on my social media also.”

Not only Swastika but also her manager received a threatening email from a person named Ravish Sharma who claimed to be a friend of Sandeep Sarkar. The actor added, “He (Ravish Sharma) further claimed that he was a ‘brilliant’ computer hacker. He said that he would ‘morph’ my pictures and send them to pornography websites. Along with the email, he sent two of my images that are morphed and nude. This amounted to sexual harassment. Sandeep Sarkar admitted that they are acquaintances.”

“If I wanted, I would have talked to the media about it then. I kept quiet because I wanted the release of Shibpur to be smooth. But it does not seem to end. Everyone will vouch for the fact that I did my job diligently while shooting. I went on time and did everything in my control to portray the character truthfully. This person (Sandeep Sarkar) is saying I have extorted money. I did not get paid a dime extra beyond what was there in the contract,” the Dil Bechara actor reasoned why she maintained silence initially as it all began in March. She said she went to the authorities immediately after receiving said emails.

Swastika was last seen in Qala alongside Tripti Dimri and Babil Khan. Her next Bengali film, Shibpur, which was initially slated for a release in March, will release on May 5.