Porn racket: Film director arrested
MUMBAI: Property cell of the Mumbai Police’s crime branch on Wednesday arrested film director Tanvir Hasmi from Surat in connection with the pornography racket.
Hasmi is the ninth accused to be arrested in the case in which newcomers to Bollywood were allegedly lured under the guise of small roles and forced to act in porn films by using agreements signed by them to their disadvantage.
Hasmi and the other eight accused were produced before a magistrate on Wednesday. Five of them, including the mastermind of the racket, producer-director Rowa alias Yasmeen Khan, were sent to judicial custody, while others, including
Hasmi, model-actress Gehana Vasisth, Khan’s husband Shaan Banerjee alias Dipankar Khasanvis, and Umesh Kamat, were remanded in police custody till February 15.
Property cell conducted raids at a bungalow in Madh, Malad (West) on February 4. Hasmi’s name came to the fore during the interrogation of Vasisth and other accused. He would allegedly accept obscene videos from Vasisth and others and later sold them to several mobile app owners, said inspector Kedari Pawar of the property cell.
Vasisth’s legal and press team has, however, said “Vasisth (aka Vandana Tiwari) is innocent and she is not involved in the porn racket. She had only shot erotica and there is no pornography in her work.”
Meanwhile, another first information report (FIR) has been registered at Malwani police station following a complaint lodged by a model alleging that she was forced to act in pornographic films by Khan and other arrested accused. The complainant is a 29-year-old model.