By Arpan Chaturvedi and Indranil Sarkar
NEW DELHI/BENGALURU (Reuters) – Jubilant Foodworks said on Tuesday that its Chair Shyam Bhartia has called allegations against him “baseless”, following media coverage of a court petition and a police complaint in which an Indian actor accused Bhartia of raping her.
Jubilant, which operates Domino’s Pizza, Popeyes and Dunkin’ Donuts restaurants across India, said it issued the statement in light of regulatory requirements, after Bhartia told the company that the allegations were “baseless, false and disparaging, and made with clear malafide intent against him.”
The court petition and a police complaint, seen by Reuters on Tuesday, show that the actor accused Bhartia of raping her on several occasions. The court petition also accused an alleged associate of Bhartia’s of recording the act and blackmailing the actor. The actor’s name cannot be disclosed under Indian law.
Bhartia, whose family owns more than a 40% stake in Jubilant Foodworks, has not made any public statements, and he could not be directly reached for comment.
The police did not answer calls seeking comment, while the actor’s legal team declined to comment.
Jubilant said an investigation into the allegations is ongoing and it had no additional comment. It said Bhartia would fully cooperate with the investigation.
(Reporting by Indranil Sarkar in Bengaluru, Arpan Chaturvedi in New Delhi and Dhwani Pandya in Mumbai; Editing by Dhanya Skariachan and Lisa Shumaker)
