Raveena Tandon gives blow-by-blow recounting of the 2024 mob incident.
Almost two years after a video went viral in which a family accused Raveena Tandon and her driver of allegedly physically abusing a woman, the actor has now offered a detailed account of exactly what transpired at the time.
“Luckily, we had the CCTV cameras, where immediately, the truth came out. Like I said, Instagram and social media is a boon and a bane. They tried very hard to edit it in such a way,” — said Raveena. “The cops said it was an entire extortion plan. They just wanted to create a ruckus,” she added.
For people asking her why she got out on the road in the first place, Raveena Tandon clarified that the intruders in question were pushing to enter her house. “There was a mob entry inside my house. My children were there. Anil (Thadani, husband) was at office. You think I’d have let anyone enter my house? I’d have definitely stood up and fought, but the point here being is they were trying to scare us and settle it for money,” Raveena told ETimes.
In a viral video, a man had claimed that Raveena’s driver hit his mother, and when questioned, she she started assaulting her. CCTV footage from the vicinity of the Khar-based building, where the incident occurred, showed that women were in close proximity to the actor’s car but were not struck by it, following which the crowd became angry and it led to an altercation.
After Raveena Tandon got out of her vehicle to speak to the crowd, she was allegedly pushed and hit. In the viral video, Raveena is heard saying, “Please don’t hit me.” The man claimed that the actress was inebriated and she started assaulting the woman after stepping out of the car. After the incident, a group of people confronted Raveena and her driver inside the premise.
“They were blaming him for no reason, when nothing had happened,” claimed Raveena. “I know everybody in that locality. I walk with a few ladies in the house next door. I thought if the women in the burqas are someone’s guest, I’d go and say sorry on behalf of the driver. As soon as I walked out — I think that’s what they were waiting for,” recalled the actor.“My driver was a lone man. They were trying to record my house, so he just put her phone down. The minute he did, she went on the tangent of, ‘How can you touch me? I’ll call the cops and file a rape complaint against you.’ I thought this poor chap is going to go in jail for a false molestation case, so I went out to talk to her, woman to woman,” recounted Raveena.
“The minute I walked out, there was a mob of 30 men! My driver pulled me inside the gate, and I called the cops and my driver got left behind outside. So, they decided to beat him up. I opened the gate, and dragged him inside. I asked him to go up and sit with my kids. They asked me to give my driver to them otherwise I’d see his dead body the next day. Can you imagine this is happening in Bandra?,”
— said Raveena.
“That guy has been with us for the next 10 years. He’s like a son to all of us. He has small kids. If I’d left him outside, they’d have beaten him black and blue, and he’d have been in the hospital by the time the cops came. All because they wanted me to come out and say, ‘Okay, I’ll give you all money,'” claimed Raveena.“They beat up another watchman. They’d beat up whenever a man would block their way. So, it was three women — me and two domestic helps — blocking 30 men. It was crazy! They took my phone away when I said, ‘I’ll call the cops.’ A man even got into my house, and I’ve actually caught him by his shirt and thrown him out,”
— said Raveena.
“Bandra is becoming scary,” — added the actor, claiming that the posh Mumbai locality isn’t safe anymore. “It’s sad that this is happening under the guise of targeting celebrities,” she lamented. She also quoted the examples of two more recent instances in the area, including Saif Ali Khan’s infamous stabbing incident inside his Bandra apartment and Aditya Roy Kapur encountering a burqa-clad woman inside his home claiming that it’s her house.
After accessing the CCTV footage of the incident, Mumbai Police came to the conclusion that it was a “false” complaint and contrary to the complainants’ claims, Raveena wasn’t “inebriated.”
