Chetan Bhagat Accused of Sexual Harassment, Issues Apology Saying 'Was Going Through a Phase'

Author and columnist Chetan Bhagat on Saturday landed in a major controversy as his name surfaced in the raging #MeToo debate with screenshots of a WhatsApp conversation he had with a woman surfacing on social media.

This comes amid the Tanushree Dutta-Nana Patekar controversy where the actress accused Patekar of harassing her several years ago on a film set. Interestingly, Bhagat stood up for Dutta a couple of days ago and said her allegations deserve an audience.

Bhagat on Saturday afternoon issued an apology to the concerned woman and accepted the fact that the screenshots were real. In the post, he has written that he also apologised to his wife for his behaviour.

In the screenshots that are reportedly several years old, Bhagat is trying to ‘woo’ the said woman, who is a journalist and the author knew her in a "professional capacity".

In a Facebook post, Bhagat wrote, “Also, I also want to clarify that there never was nothing physical, no lewd pictures or words that were ever exchanged. I think I deleted the person’s number soon thereafter and we haven’t been in touch for years."

He added, "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."

Even since the screenshots of the conversation came out on social media, Twitter has been abuzz with both support and criticism for Bhagat, who continues to be a bestselling author.