Vikas Bahl, a founding members of the now dissolved Phantom Productions, has filed a defamation suit of 10 crores against his business partners, directors Anurag Kashyap and Vikramaditya Motwane. Bahl, who has been accused of sexual assault by an ex-employee of the company, demands that Kashyap and Motwane refrain from making any statements against him.
According to a Firstpost report, the Queen director had sought an interim direction from the court to prevent his partners from making any statements against him to the media or through social media. The court which heard the case on Wednesday adjourned the hearing to today and also asked Bahl to make the woman employee a respondent on the case.
Justice Kathawalla, who after hearing the arguments had asked if the parties were willing to settle the issue amicably, has asked Bahl, Kashyap, Motwane and the woman to appear in person in his chamber to hear the matter.
Bahl’s counsel had argued that the woman maintained contact even after the alleged incident to which Kashyap’s counsel responded saying she was still working at Phantom films during this period which required her to maintain contact with the accused. The judge passed no order on Bahl’s plea.
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The woman had alleged that Bahl sexually assaulted her at a party in Goa during the promotional tour of Kashyap’s Bombay Velvet in 2015. The woman also alleged that Kashyap failed to take action even after being apprised of the incident soon after. Following the publication of an article earlier this month, the partners dissolved their company and parted ways.
Shortly after this incident, Kangana Ranaut whom Bahl directed in his debut movie Queen, levelled accusations against him claiming he misbehaved with her too.
Meanwhile, Bahl has denied all allegations.