Mumbai, Sep 21 (IANS): Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment Ramdas Athawale met actress Payal Ghosh here on Tuesday. He said he had gone to take stock of the situation after she claimed on social media that she had been attacked by masked men on Monday night as she was entering a medical store.

Ghosh has been a member of Athawale's Republic Party of India faction since October 2020. She is the vice-president of the party's women's wing. Another actress, Rakhi Sawant, held the same position in 2014.

Athawale took to Twitter to demand that Ghosh be provided police protection. His tweet in Hindi read: "We condemn the attack on actress Payal Ghosh by unidentified men. She should be given police protection. Today, I met Payal Ghosh and took stock of the situation."

In an interview with IANS earlier in the day, Ghosh recounted the incident and said: "They hit me on my head with an iron rod. I panicked and I shouted and the rod fell on my hand. They apparently had acid in a bottle. I can't get out of it, it's like a mental trauma. Thank God, it was a public place and I shouted and these masked guys got scared."

The actress, who has been a part of a couple of southern film projects and is remembered for her role in the Hindi film 'Patel Ki Punjabi Shaadi' (2017), had created a stir when in 2013 she accused filmmaker Anurag Kashyap of sexually harassing her on Mumbai's Yari Road.

Kashyap, however, was able to prove to the court that he was shooting in Sri Lanka during the time period mentioned by Ghosh.