Swastika Mukherjee Accuses Bengali Film Producer Sandeep Sarkar Of Harassment

Bengali film producer Sandeep Sarkar has been accused of harassment by actor Swastika Mukherjee. She is starring in his upcoming film Shibpur. The actor claimed that she received threatening emails from Sandeep and his associates. The emails wanted her to ‘cooperate’ with them ahead of the film's release. She also said that they claimed to have her morphed, ‘nude’ pictures which they threatened to leak on pornography websites. Swastika lodged a complaint at Kolkata's Golf Green Police Station. She sought help from the Eastern India Motion Pictures Association (EIMPA). Shibpur, a political thriller directed by Arindam Bhattacharya, also features Parambrata Chatterjee, Rajatava Dutta, and Mamata Shankar in major roles.

Speaking about the alleged harassment, Swastika said, "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." Swastika also stated that the film was originally scheduled to release in March. But the release was shifted without informing her. Not only Swastika, but her manager also received a threatening email from a person claiming to be Sandeep's friend. The email contained two morphed and nude pictures of Swastika. Sandeep later admitted that he knew the sender, Ravish Sharma. Swastika maintained that she did her job diligently while shooting, and she was not paid a dime extra beyond what was in her contract. Swastika had kept quiet about the harassment initially because she wanted the release of Shibpur to be smooth. Her last film was Qala, alongside Tripti Dimri and Babil Khan. Shibpur is now set to release on May 5.