#MeToo movement: Fresh allegations of molestation against Suhel Seth

Repeated calls and messages to Seth went unanswered. He has 4.8 million followers on Twitter, and founded the consultancy firm Counselage India in 2002.

Speaking to The Indian Express over the phone from her home in Mumbai, Soares recounted the incident. She said, “It was September 2012, and I was walking the ramp at the Aamby Valley India Bridal Fashion Week in Delhi. After the show, my friends, including other models and fashion designers, were at a party that was held at GBar, at the Grand Hotel in Vasant Kunj. We were in the VIP section, I was dancing on a couch,” she says.

READ | Filmmaker accuses Suhel Seth of sexual assault

According to Soares, Seth was at the party too. “He wasn’t my friend, just an acquaintance. First, he put his hand down my top and I caught him by the ear and twisted it. But a few minutes later, he grabbed me and shoved his tongue into my mouth. I was so angry, I bit his tongue as hard as I could.”

Soares said, “I’ll never forget the way he looked at me, looking hurt and bewildered. By this time, people had noticed what was happening, and they intervened and pulled me away.”

Divekar said that she met Seth at her husband’s friend’s house in Bandra on January 7, 2017. She alleged that as she greeted Seth at the bar, “he groped my breast. I backed off and screamed at him: ‘let me take out my camera and do it again so I can record it.’ He started abusing me. There were six-seven people in the house… my husband and his friend were a little far away and came towards me.”

Soares said, “So many people have said to me that ‘He’s a fool, you know what he’s like’… for years, his behaviour has been allowed to slide…. we are fighting enablers and shielders and those who just can’t see the larger picture.”