Producers association donate 5 lakhs to suicide victim Raju Sapte’s wife

The Indian Motion Picture Producers Association has donated Rs 5 lakh to Sonali Sapte, wife of art director Raju Sapte who committed suicide in July this year. The art director's association had reached out to IMPPA seeking financial help for the widow of Sapte. President of IMPPA T P Agarwal said, “We received a request from Association of Cine & Television Art Directors and Costume Designers informing us that their member Raju Sapte gave his life and committed suicide on account of unbearable harassment and mental torture. His perpetrators had been harassing many including producers for a number of years, so IMPPA decided to help his wife.” Agarwal said the suicide has shaken the entire entertainment industry and made them come together and take a stand against hooliganism. IMPPA has also requested other associations and producers to come forward and help Sapte's wife. General secretary Anil Nagrath said, “IMPPA has taken the lead to support the widow of Sapte and all other associations and actors should come forward and help his widow, who has lost her husband due to heavy handedness of the unions. 

Two persons have been arrested so far in connection with the case. Wakad police station senior inspector Vivek Mugalikar identified the two as Chandan Thackeray and Narendra Vishwakarma, adding that other accused were at large and two teams of five personnel each had been formed to nab them. ”For the unversed, on July 3,  Raju Sapte, allegedly committed suicide due to harassment by a person associated with Labor Union. Before taking the extreme step, Raju Sapte had shot a video of himself in which he named the person who, he claimed, had harassed him. In the video, Raju Sapte said that he had been facing some issues, and was being harassed by someone from Labor Union. The person was deliberately asking some labourers to spread wrong message regarding payment defaults on his part. “I have no dues. I have been paying regularly. I have five projects and I have to start work immediately,” Raju said, adding that the person was not letting him work on one of the projects. “I can't start any work. Recently, I had to leave my one project for the same reason. As a protest against this, I am committing suicide today,” he said in the video. Raju Sapte had worked as an art director for movies like Ambat Goad and Manyaa - The wonder boy, among others.