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On October 23, actress Luviena Lodh issued a video message on Instagram and accused Mahesh Bhatt and his family of harassing her. Luviena claimed that she is married to Mahesh's nephew Sumit Sabharwal and said she has filed for divorce. Alleging that people have lost their jobs because of Mahesh, she addressed him as the 'biggest don of the industry'. In the video, she went on to also name Mukesh Bhatt, Sahil Saigal and Kumkum Saigal. Mahesh and Mukesh have reportedly sought Rs 1 crore in damages from Luviena and an order restraining her from making any such false claims in the future.
The brothers, in a statement, denied all the allegations levelled by Luviena and called them ‘false’, ‘incorrect’ and ‘baseless’. "As a public figure, we have accepted that one’s private life can be the subject matter of curiosity, interest, scrutiny and gossip, often, intense, irresponsible or even unfair. we have regarded this as an occupational hazard and a part and parcel of life and therefore exercised great restraint in engaging with or responding to, the same," the statement read.
It was added, "We have however recently been at the receiving end of a vicious and malicious campaign launched by Ms. Luviena Lodh who falsely claims, her husband to be our nephew. Ms. Lodh has, since 2016, been engaged in a matrimonial dispute with her husband Mr. Sumit Sabherwal who works for our company Vishesh Films. She has also been served recently with proceedings for evicting her from a residential flat which she is occupying. She has therefore, as a litigation strategy, decided to personally target us and members of our family, by levelling scurrilous and grossly defamatory allegations, against us, in the hope that this will result in the eviction proceedings not being pursued."
The statement further included that the court refrained Luviena from making defamatory statements against Mahesh and Mukesh. "Towards this end, Ms. Luviena Lodh published and circulated, on her Instagram account, a video making grossly defamatory, false, scurrilous and distasteful allegations against us. Since this was not idle gossip but a malicious attack, we both were constrained to file a defamation suit before the Hon’ble Bombay High Court. By its Order dated 26th October, 2020, the court restrained Ms. Lodh from making defamatory statements against us whether by way of circulating the said video or otherwise in any manner whatsoever. In complete disregard thereto, Ms. Lodh has continued to peddle lies and falsehood to besmirch our reputation and malign our character. In her desperation to escape the eviction proceedings she held a press conference, where she reiterated her falsehood and even misrepresented the court order. The proceedings of the Press Conference has only served to expose what her real agenda is – use attacks on us and our family as a quid pro quo to escape eviction proceedings.
The statement concluded with, "As we have already sought and secured legal protection and as the matter is sub-judice, we are taking legal advice on the further course of action to adopt. In the meanwhile, we are making this statement to place on record that all allegations made by Ms. Lodh against us are false, incorrect and baseless. We are confident about our case and have complete faith that our stand will be judicially vindicated. We are confident that truth will prevail and unlike her, we do not need to take recourse to publicity stunts or malicious mud-slinging."
