Vikas Bahl, who has been accused of sexual harassment, has sent same worded two separate legal notices to his ex-partners- Anurag Kashyap and Vikramaditya Motwane via email on Tuesday. According to a report in Mumbai Mirror, the notice has been issued through Advocate Shamsher Garud of Jayakar and Partners.
Here’s what the notice states according to the leading tabloid:
Bahl has
accused them of not only orchestrating the whole campaign against him, but also
using the opportunity to disband Phantom Films, making him look like the person
responsible for the production house’s fall. Bahl has accused Kashyap of
bribing another employee of their production house to make similar allegations
against Bahl. This makes us wonder whether the alleged incident [of sexual
assault] also has any authenticity, given that the alleged victim was, in fact,
working as your own employee.
Vikas Bahl
Kashyap and
Motwane acted on hearsay to paint Bahl as the villain of the piece. You are
neither a witness nor the alleged victim, but instead an opportunist seeking to
derive benefit based on unsubstantiated information. The alleged incident has
not been established in any court of law and that you have exploited the media
to propagate your own personal vendetta.
Vikramaditya Motwane And Anurag Kashyap In An Interview
Bahl has
alleged that he, along with Kashyap, Motwane and Mantena had anyway been
discussing dissolution of Phantom Films for the past few months because of
creative and professional differences. However, putting [the blame of the
production house shutting down] solely on Bahl is in bad taste. There is
personal agenda behind it [their statements in the media supporting the victim]
as victim herself is referring to Kashyap’s media statements as sudden moral
enlightenment.
The notice also points out contradictions in Kashyap’s stated position on the case in 2017 and now. Referring to the alleged victim’s statements in the media, the notice says that when she approached him in October 2015, he did not show any inclination to act on her allegations. However, now he has changed his stand to say that he stood by the victim and had morally and contractually complied with what was expected of him as a Director of the company.
The notice says that Motwane had earlier this month met Bahl and showed the latter screenshots of his conversations with alleged victim. This was to show that no sexual harassment incident had taken place. Yet, Motwane, [after the victim outed him] went ahead and issued statements against Bahl.
The notice threatens to file civil and/or criminal defamation against Kashyap and Motwane if the two do not withdraw their messages [on social media] and tender an unconditional apology to Bahl.
Image Source: DeccanChronicle ,Filmibeat ,TheHolywoodReport & instagram/vikramadityamotwane