The internal turmoil going on in Indian Ocean has now come to the surface. Susmit Sen, former guitarist of the iconic fusion band has filed a police complaint against his former bandmates Rahul Ram and Amit Kilam. Read this alsoOur next stop is the Metaverse: the Indian Ocean
The complaint has leveled several charges against the two including criminal conspiracy, breach of trust, fraud and embezzlement. Apart from this, they have also accused Rahul and Amit of financial irregularities within the band.
legal action
according to india todaySusmit filed a police complaint against Rahul and Amit in Delhi on August 16. Susmit took legal action along with Sunita Chakraborty, wife of deceased Indian Ocean co-founder Ashim Chakraborty. He has also named Kandisa Music Productions Pvt Ltd, the company that runs the Indian Ocean band, in the complaint.
Sushmit addressed the controversy in a statement, saying, “Having founded the band with Ashim (Chakraborty), I take no pleasure in having police action taken against it today. In fact, it was my father (Ajit Kumar Sen) who named the band I formed with Ashim in 1990, and I am still a shareholder in the company (Kandisa Music Productions Pvt Ltd) that runs the band. I had personally chosen two members of this band at that time, against whom I am forced to take police action due to circumstances. What I had to endure is indeed unfortunate, considering that I and Ashim founded the band, and I was its composer and lead guitarist. Needless to say, I was an integral member of Indian Ocean.”
The statement said, “As we have stated in the police complaint, we believe they have committed offences including criminal conspiracy, breach of trust, fraud against the Registrar of Companies (ROC), fraud against officers and mismanagement, among others. I have not been paid my royalties since 2020. I also came to know that I was being underpaid for a few years since I left the band in 2013.”
A complaint has been lodged with the police, but an FIR has not been filed yet. It is being said that the outstanding amount is more than Rs 10 lakh. Each will get Rs 50 lakh.
According to India Today, Amit Kilan denied any complaint was lodged and insisted it was an ‘internal matter’ which they wanted to settle amicably.
About the band
Indian Ocean was founded by Susmit in 1990. In its first year, the band included Shaleen Sharma on drums, and also three bassists: Indrajit Dutta, Anirban Roy and RC Arya.
In 1991, Susmit met Rahul Ram, his former classmate at St. Xavier’s School, and he persuaded him to join. In 1994, Amit Kilam signed on. And this created a band that everyone knows today. This Delhi-based band is one of the most iconic bands to emerge from India’s independent music scene in the 1990s. In 2009, Aseem died unexpectedly, leaving his band mates and their fans in shock.
They are credited for albums such as Indian Ocean (1993), Desert Rain (1997), Kandisa (2000), Jhini (2003) and 16/330 Khajur Road (2010). The band sang two songs for actor and filmmaker Aamir Khan’s Peepli Live!
They also have a documentary showing their journey. Leaving Home – The Life and Music of Indian Ocean, traces the band’s first 20 years. In 2013, Susmit decided that he wanted to go solo.
Current members include Himanshu Joshi, Tuheen Chakraborty, Amit Kilam, Nikhil Rao and Rahul Ram.
