Chetan Bhagat counterattacks on #MeToo allegations, pleads innocence

Facing allegations of sexual misconduct, author Chetan Bhagat on Monday presented his defence and claimed that he is being 'dragged into needless controversies' in the #MeToo movement. To drive home his point, Chetan Bhagat posted screenshots of an email conversation with the woman who has accused him of sexual misconduct.

He tweeted: "So who wanted to kiss whom? @iratrivedi’s self-explanatory email from 2013 to me, esp last line, easily shows her claims from 2010 are false, and she knows this too. This mental harassment of me and my family has to stop. Please don’t harm a movement with #fakecharges #harassed."

So who wanted to kiss whom? @iratrivedi’s self-explanatory email from 2013 to me, esp last line, easily shows her claims from 2010 are false, and she knows this too. This mental harassment of me and my family has to stop. Please don’t harm a movement with #fakecharges #harassed pic.twitter.com/SWeaSCfHLd — Chetan Bhagat (@chetan_bhagat) October 15, 2018

In a series of tweets, Chetan Bhagat called the allegations against him a ' smear campaign' and asked people not to believe in them.

"A person’s reputation is their most prized asset and takes a lifetime of work to earn. To have these motivated, fake attacks on me is abhorrent and the sickest thing a person can do. Please don’t support this kind of smear campaign. To those who abused me last few days, hope you will do right by me now. Ultimately, is this movement about the truth or blindly supporting a particular gender? Please don’t let your biases make you believe things that are not true."

"Annoyed by my revelations, more baseless, twisted attacks may come on me, through her friends, wellwishers &/or others. Neither obligated nor inclined to respond. Please don’t believe such nonsense. I may go silent on twitter to heal my family but I won’t be shamed or silenced. I am not a vindictive person. More than anything I just want me and my family to be left alone and people to ignore fake charges.  Love to all who supported me. I won’t let you down. This was my #MeToo story. Peace out," he said in his defence. 

When the allegations against him had come up, he had publicly apologised to teh woman in question, who is the author of several books. "I am really sorry to person concerned. The screenshots, are of course real, and I am sorry if you felt they were wrong I hope you will accept my apology. Just in terms of more information, these screenshots are several years old, and I had met the person in question a couple of times. We hit it off really well as a friendship, and as I say in the screenshots, I did feel a strong connection with her. I did find her a good human being, sweet, cute and funny (as I also say in the screenshots)."

"As I also say in the screenshots, I realized I was married and this was not about looking for any action. I just had not felt that kind of connection in a while. Maybe I was going through a phase, maybe these things just happen, or maybe I felt the person felt the same too based on our conversations (which I don’t need to repeat here). However, it was stupid of me, to feel that way and to even share that with her," he had posted on his Facebook account.