On Friday, Karan Johar took to social media to issue a statement denying that any narcotic substance was consumed during a party that he hosted in 2019. He also termed the allegations against him as “baseless and false”. 

© Viral Bhayani

With the ongoing furore over the alleged use of drugs in the Bollywood industry, a throwback video from last year showing a bunch of A-list actors including Deepika Padukone, Malaika Arora, Arjun Kapoor and Vicky Kaushal, among others, is back in discussion. 

The controversy around the video started when former SAD MLA Manjinder Singh Sirsa said that drugs were consumed at a party attended by stars including Deepika Padukone, Malaika Arora, Vicky Kaushal and Shahid Kapoor, among others, hosted by Karan Johar. 

#UDTABollywood - Fiction Vs Reality

Watch how the high and mighty of Bollywood proudly flaunt their drugged state!!

I raise my voice against #DrugAbuse by these stars. RT if you too feel disgusted @shahidkapoor @deepikapadukone @arjunk26 @Varun_dvn @karanjohar @vickykaushal09 pic.twitter.com/aBiRxwgQx9

— #Istandwithfarmers Manjinder Singh Sirsa (@mssirsa) July 30, 2019

Karan, in his stance, said that when the first time the allegation was made, he had made it clear that no drugs had been used. He wrote:

“Certain news channels, print/electronic media and social media platform (s) are wrongly and misleading reporting that narcotics were consumed at a party that I, Karan Johar hosted on July 28, 2019 at my residence. I had already clarified my position way back in 2019 that the allegations were false.”  View this post on InstagramA post shared by (@karanjohar)

“In view of the current malicious campaign, I am reiterating that the allegations are completely baseless and false, No narcotics substance was consumed in the party. I would like to unequivocally once again state that I do not consume narcotics and I do not promote or encourage consumption of any such substance.” 
“All these slanderous and malicious statements, news articles and news clippings have unnecessarily subjected me, my family and my colleagues and Dharma Productions, to hatred, contempt and ridicule,” 

he added. 

Soon after Karan Johar’s claims, people started to flood social media pages with memes and comments, reacting to what the director said. 

Check out some of the reactions here: 

#StandWithDeepika
After watching #KaranJohar and #StandWithDeepika in trending.
.
.
Le me: pic.twitter.com/Iu4RvY1xLU

— aBhi Sharma ™ (@Vicodin_500) September 26, 2020

Oh, so #KaranJohar DID have a gift hamper after all! https://t.co/2mITtyKtdz

— Shefali Vaidya. (@ShefVaidya) September 26, 2020

#KaranJohar trending again today

Public: pic.twitter.com/447unYbVmK

— Binay (@binay__das) September 26, 2020

when in God's land they show trending of #KaranJohar pic.twitter.com/vQEXBek3mW

— MOWAKAY THE LEGEND (@drshukla5) September 26, 2020

#KaranJohar
Le NCB :: 🤣🤣 pic.twitter.com/zkGLVMR6eS

— ashish sharma (@ashush44) September 26, 2020

#KaranJohar trying to hide from NCB with all New dressing 🤪🤣 pic.twitter.com/FYCj7txBSS

— Sandesh Pawar (@sandypdna) September 26, 2020

#KaranJohar
⭕ Karan johar is trending again..

⭕ Me-after seeing this#KaranJohar pic.twitter.com/UbK4EGIr39

— Chandan Pani (@KingdomOfKnowl1) September 26, 2020 

Meanwhile, addressing the issue of the emergence of two names - Kshitij Prasad and Anubhav Chopra – in the ongoing drug probe, who have been addressed as his “close aides” in some reports, Karan said:

 “I would like to further state that several media/news channels have been airing news reports that Kshitij Prasad and Anubhav Chopra are my ‘aides’/’close aides’. I would like to place on record that I don’t 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 Mr 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 Productions for any other project.” 

He added, 

“Mr Kshitij Ravi Prasad joined Dharmatic Entertainment (sister concern of Dharma Productions) in November 2019 as one of the executive producers on contract basis for a project which eventually did not materialise.” 

Over the last few days, a number of people associated with Bollywood have been questioned by the NCB including actors Rakul Preet Singh, KWAN employees Jaya Saha and Karishma Prasad. Today, Deepika Padukone has appeared before NCB for questioning.

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