Bengal thespian Sudipto Chatterjee sent to police custody

Kolkata: Renowned Bengali filmmaker and theatre personality Sudipto Chatterjee who was arrested on rape and molestation charges, has been sent to two-day policy custody by a city court, police said on Sunday.

Chatterjee, a well known drama teacher, was nabbed by the Kolkata police late on Friday following two back-to-back FIRs - one of rape and the other of molestation - filed by young actresses, who had also shared their ordeal on social media website.

He was remanded in police custody on Saturday.

The first FIR was lodged by a 20-year old actress at Phoolbagan police station, under whose jurisdiction the thespian resides.

Taking to Facebook, the victim said: "I have finally gathered enough courage to come out with the incidents that have happened with me. I have faced sexual abuse of the highest order by the renowned theatre personality Prof. Sudipto Chatterjee, who also happened to be the faculty of the institution, I am enrolled with".

The actress said she was selected by Chatterjee for the lead role of his own production 'Bhadroja', but after three shows "he suddenly realised that a scene wasn't working and wanted to help me out with that. He called me to his place to teach me diaphragm breathing and psycho-physical approach to acting.

She said the Prof. asked her to lie down on bed with her eyes closed and deliver the dialogues of a rape scene.

"He started touching me and asked me to respond to his physical contact while delivering the dialogues. Then without a warning, he penetrated me with his fingers and asked me to spurt out the dialogues louder and louder.

"I had became a corpse , completely non-functional," she said.

The woman said Chatterjee had tried something similar on another occasion, acebut this time I could vocalize my aNO', so he stopped.

The second FIR - that of molestation - was filed at the Beleghata police station by another actress, who also narrated on Facebook how the filmmaker called her to his house on the ruse of teaching her diaphragm breathing and psycho-physical approach to acting and then got physical.

A police officer said the rape incident allegedly happened last December. "We are probing the allegations,"

Chatterjee had in an interview to a Bengali daily expressed "shock" over the allegations and said the girls were informed in advance about what the technique was all about.

A third actress has also come up with a post on Fcebook saying "Yes.same thing has happened with me."