Startup Founder Accused Of Recording Woman's Audio Clip During Sex

A woman has accused the co-founder of a media company, HomeGrown, Varun Patra, of recording the audio of them having sex without her consent. “He admitted to the fact that he recorded us having sex, without my consent,” the woman's post on January 3 stated. Artist and Instagram user Priyanka Paul posted about the incident on behalf of the woman concerned. After the furore the post generated, Patra has stepped down from his position, a press release issued by HomeGrown stated.

In the tell-all post, the woman writes that on 11 November, 2018, Patra who runs the progressive media platform, came over to her house for dinner. They knew other for a few months, so she invited him over to her place. After dinner, they proceeded towards her room where they had sex, “in the middle of which he felt the need to stick his finger up my ass. I told him not to do it and he did it anyway. 3 times”, she wrote.

While the woman brushed it off as miscommunication, but as they finished, she saw him stop a phone audio recording. When she brought it up with Patra, “he also admitted to me that he has also recorded other women in secret…this was a pattern for him, and if you have ever hooked up with him, I’m sorry, I hope he has never secretly recorded you,” she wrote.

Ironically, his reason, as the woman writes, for recording women while having sex is, “because he is scared of being wrongly accused of sexual misconduct during this #Metoo wave”.

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The woman also brought up Patra’s sister Varsha Patra, also a co-founder of HomeGrown. Varsha reportedly justified his actions and threatened her to keep mum.

“He also admitted to me that he has also recorded other women in secret…this was a pattern for him, and if you have ever hooked up with him, I’m sorry, I hope he has never secretly recorded you.”

With the written post, the woman also attached screenshots of her conversations with Patra in which he tries to apologize and accepts that he recorded the audio of them having sex.

Both Patra and his sister have not responded to any of the woman's allegations.

HomeGrown's press release stated: "Homegrown respects women and champions women's rights. Varun's alleged actions were in his individual capacity and do not in any way reflect the values and ideals our company is built on."

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