Actress Luviena Lodh who had recently released a video message accusing filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt of harassment has been taken to court by the director and his brother Mukesh Bhatt over defamation charges. Mahesh Bhatt has reportedly filed a civil suit before the Bombay High Court against Lodh who is the estranged wife of Bhatt’s nephew. In the civil suit, Bhatt has sought an amount of Rs 1 crore in damages from Lodh calling claims made by her as ‘distasteful, patently false, grossly defamatory, slanderous allegations’.
The Bhatt brothers sought interim protection on the apprehension that Lodh will approach multiple media channels to spread false allegations which will harm their reputation and goodwill. They also raised apprehensions that a certain section of the media may give Lodh a platform to publicise her version.
According to reports, Lodh’s lawyer had issued a statement saying that Lodh would not make any defamatory statements against Mahesh Bhatt and Mukesh Bhatt. The injunction sought by Bhatts for stoping Luviena any slanderous statements against them has reportedly been granted.
Mahesh Bhatt Denied the Allegations
Last week, a statement was issued by legal team refuting the harassment allegations made by Lodh against Bhatt. The statement said that Bhatts would take legal action against her.
Luviena Lodh’s Allegations
Lodh had released a video message last week where she made some shocking allegations against Mahesh Bhatt. She had accused Bhatt of harassing her and her family. Lodh who is seeking a divorce from her husband and Mahesh Bhatt’s nephew Sumit Sabharwal had said that she had filed the divorce case because she had come to know that Sabharwal was supplying drugs to actors. She called Mahesh Bhatt the don of the film industry and that he controlled everything that happened in the industry. Luviena Lodh accused Bhatt of destroying the lives of many people in the industry and of robbing people of work.
“I was married to the nephew of (film director) Mahesh Bhatt, Sumit Sabharwal. I had filed a divorce case against him because I got to know that he was supplying drugs to other actors such as Amyra Dastur, Sapna Pabbi etc. His phone contains pictures of several girls whom she shows to directors,” she alleged. After that, she said, “Vo ladkiya bhi supply karta hai. Inn saari baaton ki jaankari Mahesh Bhatt ko hai (He is also involved in supplying girls. Mahesh Bhatt is well aware of all these things).”
Luviena emphasised, “Mahesh Bhatt is the don of the industry. He controls everything that goes on in the industry. If you don’t play by his rules, then, he will make your life miserable in the industry. Mahesh Bhatt has destroyed the lives of several people, including directors, actors and composers. People lose work just with one phone call by him and they don’t even get to know about it. He has done this to many people. And since I had filed a complaint against him, he is after me.”
Luviena Lodh said that if anything happened to her or her family Mahesh Bhatt, Mukesh Bhatt, Sumit Sabharwal, Sahil Sehgal and Kumkum Sehgal would be responsible.