Mumbai based model alleges harassment by director

BENGALURU: A Mumbai-based modeland actor, who had travelled to Bengaluru to perform in an item song for a Kannada film, alleged she was harassed by the movie director because he had neither used her services nor did he pay her.She claimed they had fallen out after she refused him an unspecified favour. The director, Melwin Elpel, has denied the allegations.Jayanagar police in south Bengaluru registered a non-cognizable-register (NCR) based on the actor’s complaint. Police said they did not register an FIR as the victim had requested police to only get Elpel to pay up rather than prosecute him for harassment.In a post on Facebook, the actor, who approached the police on Wednesday, claimed Elpel had contacted her and had offered her a role in the film ‘Huttada Sutta’. She said she agreed to the role for a fee of Rs 15,000 per day. She arrived in Bengaluru on December 16, but never got to act in the film.Elpel claimed that the victim was to shoot for the song on Sunday (December 17, but she had complained she was ill and did not arrive for the shoot. The director claimed that he and his team were forced to find actor for the role. Elpel claims the model wanted to return to Mumbai and had asked to be paid the full sum. Although she did not show up for the shoot, he had paid her Rs 3,000 as she had travelled “all the way from Mumbai”.Police are investigating the case.Man caught recording Puneeth movie in theatreA 30-year-old man was detained and released after a warning by Silver Jubilee Park police in central Bengaluru for allegedly filming the new Puneeth Rajkumar-starrer Anjaniputhraa at Sharada theatre, Nagarathpet. In another incident, live streaming of the same movie on Facebook on Friday ended within a few minutes after the person was told by friends that it was an offence.Silver Jubilee Park police said when cloth merchant Anand started filming the movie, others in the audience informed the theatre management who called police . He confessed that he was filming the movie to show it to his wife.“His wife told us she is a hardcore fan of Puneeth Rajkumar and requested him to film the movie,” police said.Elsewhere, a youth from Yelahanka was stopped within a few minutes after live streaming the film at a theatre as his friends warned him hecould land in jail.