Karan Johar said the charges in the drug case did not relate to him or his company.
Bombay:
Filmmaker Karan Johar said on Friday that he did not personally know two people interviewed in an expanded investigation into allegations of drug abuse in Bollywood, refuting media reports that described them as his “assistants” .
“Several media / news channels have broadcast information that Kshitij Prasad and Anubhav Chopra are my“ assistants ”/“ close associates. ”I would like to point out that I do not know these people personally and neither of these two people is not “helpers” or “close associates”, “he said in a statement.
The producer-director said Anubhav Chopra was not an employee of his company Dharma Productions, although he worked on two projects with the company as a freelance between 2011 and 2013.
Kshitij Ravi Prasad joined Dharmatic Entertainment, a company linked to Dharma Productions, in November 2019 as one of the contract executive producers for a project that ultimately did not materialize, he said.
“Neither I nor Dharma Productions can be held responsible for what people do in their personal lives. These allegations do not concern Dharma Productions,” said Karan Johar.
The filmmaker, who has been the target of harassment and abuse from a section of social media and TV users since the death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput in June, criticized the “campaign malicious “which began with accusations of encouraging nepotism and later escalated into rampant drug abuse claims.
He denied reports of drugs being consumed at a party he threw at his home last year in July and said: “These slanderous and malicious statements, press articles and press clippings make me have needlessly subjected my family and colleagues, and Dharma Productions, to hatred, contempt and ridicule. “
“I would like to say once again unequivocally that I do not use narcotics and that I do not promote or encourage the use of such a substance,” he said.
“In recent days, the media have resorted to nasty, distorted and false allegations. I hope members of the media show restraint, otherwise I will have no choice but to legally protect my rights against this baseless attack on me, “Mr. Johar added.
Kshitij Ravi Prasad and Anubhav Chopra are among the growing list of members of the Hindi film industry in Mumbai who have come under the scrutiny of the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) for alleged drug abuse which has also called in premier actors. plan like Deepika Padukone for questioning.
The allegations emerged following the investigation into the death of Sushant Singh Rajput which revealed drug abuse charges on his part and led to the arrest of several of his associates, including his girlfriend Rhea Chakraborty , also an actor, for allegedly helping him brand for contraband.
