Actresses have raised the issue of casting couch in the past, mostly without naming anyone. Unheralded Telugu actress Sri Reddy created storm in Hyderabad last week by stripping in public to protest against casting couch. She also accused actor Rana Daggubati’s brother Abhiram of sexual harassment. Now, Reddy has accused Telugu writer-producer Kona Venkat of rape.
Reddy has been putting up tweets from two unverified Twitter handles — @srireddyleaks and @MsSriReddy. Both accounts claim to be official handles of the actress.
Yesterday (11 April) evening, a text in Telugu was posted on @MsSriReddy. When translated in English, it roughly reads, “Author Kona Venkat raped me. Now he is trying to cover it up by calling it publicity. What all a girl has to go through for the truth to prevail.”