TV actor Joy Mukherjee held for threatening Sayantika Banerjee

KOLKATA: Television actor

Sanjay Mukherjee

, popularly known as Joy Mukherjee in film circles, was arrested on Saturday morning for allegedly threatening actor Sayantika Banerjee after stopping her car in the middle of the road and getting into fisticuffs with her personal assistant. Joy was rounded up from his south Kolkata residence after Sayantika lodged a complaint against him at the Tollygunge police station on Friday night.


According to the police, the incident, no less dramatic than a film plot, began to play out around 1.15pm on Friday. Sayantika, along with her personal assistant Amit, was headed towards Southern Avenue in her chauffeur-driven car. The car had climbed down the Lake Gardens flyover, when Joy reportedly overtook them in his black Ritz and blocked their path at the Southern Avenue-Sarat Bose Road crossing. Even as several onlookers looked on in shock, fearing it to be another case of road rage, Joy alighted from his car, walked up to Sayantika’s vehicle and tried to yank open the door to force her to come out. All the while, Joy reportedly kept abusing Sayantika. But he failed to open the door as Sayantika’s driver kept it locked. But with the forceful pulling of the door handle, Joy ended up damaging the lock, the police said.

At this moment, Amit stepped out, trying to pacify Joy. In return, Sayantika claimed, the actor punched him and both of them got involved in fisticuffs. Even as onlookers intervened and some elderly people calmed Joy down, Sayantika drove away, police said.

“Sayantika decided to lodge a complaint in the evening. She first went to the

Rabindra Sarobar

police station, from where she was directed to the Tollygunge police station. Around 6pm, we registered a case against Joy under IPC sections 279 (rash driving or riding on a public way), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 341(wrongful restraint), 506 (criminal intimidation), 509 (word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman) and 427 (mischief). We arrested him in the next two hours,” said a senior officer from the Tollygunge police station. The police said they are gathering evidence. “We are checking CCTV footages. We will also speak to Sayantika soon,” said an officer.

Sayantika recently starred in Srijit Mukherji’s, ‘Uma’, opposite Jisshu Sengupta. Joy, a popular face on Bengali TV, has also acted in a couple of films. The two were paired against each other in films, like ‘Target’ and ‘Shooter’.