Actress Luviena Lodh has reacted to the defamation suit filed by filmmakers and brothers Mahesh and Mukesh Bhatt on Monday in Bombay High Court.
The Bhatts have sought one crore rupees in damages from Lodh and also sought an order restraining her from making false claims against them in future. This followed Lodh’s earlier claim in an Instagram video that Mahesh Bhatt was trying to harass her and her family. In the video, Luviena had said she was married to Bhatt’s nephew Sumit Sabharwal and that she left him because he allegedly dealt in drugs and women. She added Mahesh was aware of these facts.
On monday, reacting to the Bhatts’ suit, Luviena Lodh said that she was speaking the truth and she would stand by it. She added that she has waged war against powerful people, so Mumbai Police was not co-operating with her.
Luviena Lodh said, “Today, I appeared in the court at 3pm. In their plea, the Bhatt brothers said I should delete the video which I have uploaded on social media. They further added that the accusations which I have made against them are false but the court has told them that I shouldn’t be forced to delete videos. I am not making any defamatory statements. I am telling the truth and I stand by it,”
In her earlier Instagram video, running for one minute and a 48-second video, Lodh had also alleged that Amyra Dastur and Sapna Pabbi are among Bollywood stars to whom Sumit Sabharwal regularly supplied drugs. The actress stated that she filed her divorce after learning that her husband Sumit supplies drugs to actors like Amyra Dastur and Sapna Pabbi.
In the video, speaking in Hindi, Luviena Lodh had alleged: “Mahesh Bhatt is the biggest don of the industry. If you don’t play by his rules, he destroys your career and life.” Furthermore, she stated if anything happens to her or her family, Mahesh Bhatt, Mukesh Bhatt, Sumit Sabharwal, Sahil Sehgal, and Kumkum Sehgal should be considered responsible for it.
She added: “Everyone knows that every person who works for Vishesh Films (Bhatts’ Production house) consumes drugs, but no one talks about the Bhatt family.”
Meanwhile, actor Amyra Dastur’s lawyer recently released a statement on her behalf which read: “Our client completely refuses all such statements referring to her vide the said video as being completely false, unfounded and malicious and further reserves her right to seek all remedies available to her in law and equity. Our client also states that it is very unfortunate when individuals resort to such unfounded attacks and condemns the same.”
