Karan Johar's drugs row statement gets Bollywood friends' backing; Alia, Sonam & more join

As Karan Johar broke his silence over the Narcotics Control Bureau taking up the investigation of his controversial 2019 video, he received big support from certain Bollywood stars. With the filmmaker denying he ever consumed any narcotic substance, the who’s who of the film industry gave a thumbs up to the post. This included those who were a part of the controversial video.

READ: Amid NCB Drug Probe, Karan Johar Issues Statement

Karan Johar backed by Bollywood stars on statement

Celebrities like Manish Malhotra, Amrita Arora, Alia Bhatt’s mother - actor Soni Razdan, Twinkle Khanna, Punit Malhotra, Pulkit Samrat commented on his post, with thumbs up, clap emojis and words like ‘you said, big hug.’

Among the stars who liked the post were Alia Bhatt, Sonam K Ahuja, Abhishek Bachchan, Varun Dhawan, Chunky Pandey,  Riteish Deshmukh and Sussanne Khan. Two stars, who were present in the controversial video, Vicky Kaushal and Malaika Arora also backed the post.

READ: Sirsa Questions Bollywood's Restraint Amid NCB Drug Racket Probe, Asks Reason For Silence

Karan Johar had hit out at the ‘misleading reporting’, ‘slanderous and malicious statements’ over his name being linked to the ongoing Narcotics Control Bureau probe into the Bollywood-drug cartel nexus. The producer’s statement came after reports had claimed that he too was set to be summoned by the NCB as  Rhea Chakraborty was arrested and names like Deepika Padukone, Sara Ali Khan, Shraddha Kapoor and Rakul Preet Singh emerged. This  was after two persons, who had briefly worked with Johar’s Dharma Productions, came under the radar of the Narcotics Control Bureau. While Kshitij Ravi Prasad, who had worked as an executive producer and director, has been arrested after seizure of drugs at his residence, Anubhav Chopra, who worked as an assistant director, has been questioned.

In his statement, Karan Johar had stated, “I would like to further state that Kshitij Prasad and Anubhav Chopra — I do not know these individuals personally and neither of these two individuals are 'aides' or 'close aides'. Neither I, nor Dharma Productions can be made responsible for what people do in their personal lives. These allegations do not pertain to Dharma Productions.

"I wish to further state that Anubhav Chopra is not an employee at Dharma Productions. He was briefly associated with us for only two months in the capacity of 2nd assistant director for a film, between November 2011 and January 2012 and as assistant director for the short film in January 2013. He has thereafter never been associated with Dharma.Mr. Kshitij Ravi Prasad joined Dharmatic in November 2019 as one of the executive producers on contract basis for a project which eventually did not materialise.”

READ: Karan Johar's Drug Denial Cuts No Mustard With Sirsa; He Says 'forged Defence Won't Work'

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