An internal inquiry by Reliance Entertainment has cleared director Vikal Bahl of all sexual harassment charges and given him a clean chit. His name will now be incorporated in the credits for the Hrithik Rishan starrer movie, Super 30.
In an official statement, Shibasish Sarkar, Group CEO, Reliance Entertainment, confirmed, "Yes, it is that the internal complaints committee report has exonerated Vikas Bahl. With ICC clearing Vikas Bahl's name, we don't have a choice but to reinstate his credit as director of Super 30." Following this, Vikas Bahl has now filed a defamation case against Anurag Kashyap and Vikramaditya Motwane for maligning his image by giving statements against him on social media.
Reliance Entertainment has 50 per cent stake in Phantom Films, a film production and distribution company speaheaded by Bahl, Vikramaditya Motwane, Anurag Kashyap and Madhu Mantena and currently dissolved.
For the uninititead, last year when the MeToo movement made its way to the entertainment industry lead by Tanushree Dutta's accusations on Nana and put several popular personalities under the scanner, Queen director Vikash Bahl was accused of sexual harassment by an employee of Phantom Films who alleged that he assaulted her in Goa during a promotional tour for the movie Bombay Velvet in 2015.
The move ended with the director made to severe ties with the film and the movie going to backburner. Bahl later filed a Rs 10 crore defamation suit against Anurag Kashyap and Vikramaditya Motwane, his former partners in the production house for making “defamatory, slanderous and baseless allegations” against him due to which he claimed to have suffered irreversible damage to the reputation.
Several Bollywood names like Anurag Kashyap, Kangana Ranaut and Vikramaditya Motwane confirmed of Vikas' activities and even called him a sexual offender
Meanwhile, the Hrithik Roshan starrer movie will released on July 12 and the trailer for which will be relaesed next week.