South actress Sreeja Sunita Nair accuses live-in director boyfriend Rameshnath Venkat Rao of rape

BANGALURU: Chennai-based model and Telugu and Tamil actress Sreeja Sunita Nair (24) did an about turn on Monday and accused her live-in-boyfriend director Rameshnath Venkat Rao (42) of rape.

The actress in a written complaint has said that the director allegedly agreed to marry her after a few years and based on that promise the actress began living in with him. The couple have been in a relationship for some time now.

The Hyderabad cops have accepted the written complaint submitted by the actress and are investigating the matter. No FIR is registered yet at the time of publishing this report.

According to a common friend, “The couple were in a relationship for almost a year. To call that rape is not correct. There have been serious problems and due to the Covid-induced lock down, many investors lost their money or had their liquidity and funds stuck. The same thing has happened with Venkat Rao. He is not able to release two films which have been completed, as the market is not right. Sreeja Sunita Nair is upset that the shooting of her film for which she was signed on in the main lead, got delayed since the last 6 months. She thinks, – though incorrectly that Rao is bluffing and using her physically, which is completely wrong. We hope better sense prevails and the couple is able to reconcile,” said the friend.

Sreeja Sunita Nair who was signed on by the Hyderabad-based director Rameshnath Venkat Rao for the Tamil film Love, Sex & Passion, found herself in a tight spot when very private and intimate images suddenly made their appearance on the internet, about 3 months ago.

According to Sreeja Sunita Nair, the images were shot by a mobile phone camera by director and producer Rameshnath Venkat Rao about a year ago during a look test. “Since I was also in a relationship with him, I did not mind shooting nude for him as it was also work-related and we were in a personal relationship. The images were totally private and I am totally shocked and surprised that they have suddenly come out into the public domain,” Sreeja Sunita Nair told this website.

Venkat Rao was not available for comment and his phone was switched off.

Sreeja Sunita Nair originally hails from Chennai and is now based in Mumbai.

When the photographs were clicked last year, she was staying in Hyderabad and Chennai with her boyfriend director-producer Venkat Rao and the two were in a live-in relationship.

The duo were supposed to get married, but apparently broke up due to irreconcilable differences, say sources familiar with the film industry and gossip and party circuit in Hyderabad.