Amidst the growing voice in support of India’s MeToo movement, All India Bakchod (AIB) founders and comedians Tanmay Bhat and Gursimran Khamba will be stepping away from their company until further notice. This came in the light of the allegations that have surfaced on social media against Tanmay Bhat, AIB CEO, for not acting on sexual harassment complaints against Utsav Chakraborty, comedian and an ex-AIB member. Meanwhile, allegations of sexual harassment also surfaced against another AIB founder, Gursimran Khamba, on a twitter thread where he was accused of forcing himself on a woman.
“We have been closely monitoring the sequence of events on social media around the allegations against AIB and also against our co-founder and CEO, Tanmay Bhat. We cannot overlook Tanmay’s role…” said a statement released by AIB that came on Monday.
The statement further added that from now on “Tanmay will not be involved with the day to day functioning of AIB or in any other manner.” Regarding Khamba’s position, the statement mentioned that he would be on temporary leave of absence until the association gathers more clarity on the matter. The statement came by the AIB’s head HR.
Allegations of sexual harassment against Khamba
On October 8, an anonymous woman on the social media claimed that Khamba forced himself on her on multiple occasions. She also alleged that Khamba on various occasions “drunk dialled her”, he also emotionally blackmailed and abused her.
In the wake of the outrage, Khamba responded to the allegations saying that he is apologetic for his inappropriate behaviour which he calls “uncalled for”, as reported by The Quint.
Misconduct by Tanmay
On October 4, AIB ex-member, comedian and YouTuber, Utsav Chakraborty was accused of sending unsolicited sexually explicit messages and pictures to girls, including a minor. The allegations came up on the twitter thread where a writer-comedian shared accounts of women claiming that they have received explicit photographs from Utsav, as reported by the Hindustan Times.
However, Utsav denied the accusations, and in his response, he said that the matter “needs context”. He said, “Literally everyone I know has turned against me, and I don’t blame them for that. But, the whole thing is far more complicated than it appears” and “needs an incredible amount of context.”
Soon after this AIB group came up with a lengthy statement saying that they are carefully looking into the matter. The statement also mentioned that Tanmay knew about the allegations and had also confronted Utsav in the past about the same. However, AIB continued working with Utsav.
In another statement, AIB said that “They are sorry”.
Last week after voices for Metoo moment became stronger, AIB decided to de-list all the videos of comedian Utsav from their site.
Mumbai Police also took notice of the case, they replied to the tweets of the woman, saying, “We have followed you. Request you to inbox your number. We will look into this on priority,” as reported by The Economic Times.
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