Kannada actor Arjun Sarja has filed a Rs 5 crore defamation suit against colleague and actress Sruthi Hariharan, a week after she accused him of sexual harassment. The case has been filed at the Bengaluru City Civil Court by his actor-nephew Dhruva Sarja, according to a report in The News Minute. This move comes hours after Sarja's manager reportedly filed a complaint with the cyber crime police stating that the actor’s email and social media accounts had been hacked.
Hariharan has been one of the voices to come out since the #MeToo movement gained momentum in the South Indian film industry. In a Facebook post on October 19, the 29-year-old 'Nibunan' actress said that Sarja made her feel uncomfortable on the set of their film. Detailing her ordeal with the actor, she said that during the rehearsal for a scene, he ran his 'hands intimately up and down' her back and pulled her close without her consent