After KWAN Entertainment’s Anirban Das Blah found himself under the line of fire for sexual harassment, two women accused Exceed Entertainment’s co-founder Afsar Zaidi of alleged sexual harassment by sharing their #MeToo stories. For the unversed, Exceed is a popular celebrity management agency, which handles stars like Saif Ali Khan and Sonakshi Sinha, among others. Thus, the women accusing Afsar of misconduct and abuse of power, certainly came as a shock to many.
The first survivor recalled her horror during an interaction with a leading daily by revealing how he asked her "strange questions" during the interview and added that he would make her stand in the middle of the office and ask everyone to dress like her. Furthermore, she recalled another incident trip during an international trip when she met Ajit Thakur, an important client of the company, who asked her to help him get women.
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Afsar Zaidi[/caption]
According to the report, the final blow for the unnamed woman came when Afsar grabbed her breast from behind multiple times at a party. She stated, "While I kept dodging him, at one point, he grabbed me from the back, put his arm around me across my breasts and held me really tightly, and forced me to down a drink. He did this a few more times in the course of the evening." She also alleged that her ex-boss kept rubbing his penis on her back and telling her to "push it harder".
Meanwhile, the second woman recounted her ordeal from a 2014 party and called the incident as "near rape" and mentioned how it was "horrific" how no one in the firm backed her then.
However, Afar has denied all allegations against him while speaking to the daily and added, "The allegations that appear to have been made are without basis, and are an attempt to malign me and defame my reputation and that of my company." He also said that he has plans to take legal action against the women.
