On Thursday, the National Commission for Women (NCW) had issued fresh notices to Mahesh Bhatt, Urvashi Rautela, Mouni Roy, Prince Narula, Esha Gupta, and Rannvijay Sinha for recording witness statements on a complaint against Sunny Verma -promoter of IMG Venture, a modelling firm accused of blackmailing and sexually exploiting girls.
NCW said that these people were directed to appear before the Commission but they have neither bothered to respond nor attended the scheduled meeting.
As per TOI report, however, the legal team of Mahesh Bhatt has stated that he has not received any notice or any form of communication from NCW in this case related to alleged blackmail and sexual assault.
Bhatt also denied being associated with IMG Ventures, or his promoter or the complainant Ms. Yogita Bhayana or any of the incidents mentioned in the NCW tweets. However, his law firm said he was ready to offer any co-operation required.
“Our client would like to bring to your attention that our client has not received any such notice from NCW as mentioned in your tweets. We understand that your notice has been issued for seeking our client’s presence as a witness. Our client is ready and willing to offer all cooperation that is required by your good office. In any event, our client would like to place on record that neither he is associated with IMG Venture or his promoter nor with the complainant Ms. Yogita Bhayana nor any incident mentioned in your tweets in any manner whatsoever,” read a letter sent to NCW on Bhatt’s behalf.
The complaint mentioned in NCW tweet was filed by Yogita Bhayana – founder of People Against Rape in India (PARI), against Sunny Verma, who was a promoter of IMG Venture. According to the complaint, Verma had been blackmailing and sexually exploiting girls on the pretext of offering them modelling opportunities.
A clarification was issued on behalf of Mahesh Bhatt declaring that he was not involved with IMG Venture.
“The allegations made against our client Mr. Mahesh Bhatt are made without verification of true and correct facts. We are taking legal action against all the news agencies who have reported false and defamatory articles,” Ameet Naik, legal counsel and advocate for the Bhatt production house said.