Actress Lara Dutta Bhupathi has turned down a work offer routed through the casting company of Mukesh Chhabra, one of those accused of sexual harassment amid the #MeToo wave in India. Lara's tennis star husband Mahesh Bhupathi made the revelation in an open letter posted to Twitter on Friday, urging people to "stop engaging" with those who have been sexual offenders, and raised a concern on why those in positions of power in the film fraternity have chosen to remain silent.

Mahesh wrote: "Two days ago my wife, who's shooting out of town, got an offer from a leading international digital platform through Mukesh Chabbra's company. She forwarded it to me for my feedback. I asked if she really wanted to empower his company even after what's been in the news.