Briefs
Goa MLA blackmailing actor-friend for sex, alleges social activist Shamita Shristi-Sharma
MUMBAI: Climate change and social activist Shamita Shristi-Sharma today took to Twitter to claim that a Marathi actress from Pune known to her, has alleged that a sitting MLA from Goa is harassing and blackmailing her to enter into an illicit sexual relationship with him in return for help in recovering her payments from a Marathi film producer known to the MLA.
Shamita Shristi-Sharma wrote on her Twitter:
My #Marathi actress friend from #Pune told me an MLA from #Goa is harassing her for last 8 months to get into an illicit sexual relationship with him. The Goa #MLA had helped her bag a Marathi #film 4 yrs earlier through his contacts & is using that to pressurize & blackmail her
— Shamita Shristi Sharma (@ShamitaShristi) December 23, 2021
“My actor-friend who is 29 years old is undergoing depression. For the last two years there is no work. The Marathi film industry in Maharashtra has come to a standstill due to Covid. About four years ago, the Goa MLA who is a regular visitor to Mumbai had helped her bag a Marathi film through his contacts. The film was shot but hasn’t been released due to the lock downs. Her payments were stuck and she has not got paid by the production house. In March 2021, she called up the MLA to help her recover her payments from the producer who was recommended by the MLA. She said she shot for the film as required by the director and production house and should be paid in full. If the film wasn’t released, it was not her fault in any way. Since then, the Goan MLA has been harassing her to have sex with him, stating that he will help her recover her pending dues if she sleeps with him,” Shristi-Sharma told this reporter.
According to Shristi-Sharma, at the time of auditioning for the film, the MLA asked her to send some ‘bold and revealing photographs’, which he claimed were required by the film director.
“He is using the ‘bold’ images to blackmail the actress, threating to make the photographs public if she did not “sleep” with him.
The victim-actor is going through a bad phase of depression as she is financially broke and to top it all she cannot speak to her family about the situation she is in.
“We are discussing with our lawyers and will take appropriate legal action,” Shristi-Sharma said, adding that her friend is having suicidal tendencies and even attempted to kill herself on one occasion, but was miraculously saved.