This past weekend, actor Payal Ghosh made sexual assault allegations against filmmaker Anurag Kashyap. In an interview, she said that the filmmaker allegedly harassed her during the shooting of Bombay Velvet. The filmmaker, since then, has denounced these allegations and called them baseless.

In the statement released on Sunday, Kashyap's lawyer Priyanka Khimani said that the filmmaker is deeply pained by these false allegations. He shared the statement on Twitter that read, "These allegations are completely false, malicious and dishonest. It is sad that a social movement as important as the #metoo movement has been co-opted by vested interests and reduced to a mere tool for character assassination. Fictitious allegations of this nature seriously undermine the movement and seek to unconscionably trade upon the pain and trauma of actual victims of sexual harassment and abuse. My client has been fully advised of his rights and remedies in law and intends to pursue them to the fullest extent."

In her Twitter post, Payal Ghosh claimed that Anurag Kashyap was sexually inappropriate & tagged Prime Minister Narendra Modi in her tweet to take action.

In a series of tweets on late Saturday night, Anurag Kashyap said, “You took so long in your attempt to shut me up. Never mind. However, in the process of silencing me, you had no qualms in dragging other women, being a woman yourself. Have some dignity, madam. All I want to say is that all the claims are baseless. I have never indulged in such behaviour nor do I tolerate such acts. We will see what happens next. Watching your video, it becomes evident how much truth there is to it, and how much of it is fake. All I want to extend is lots of good wishes and love. I apologise for replying to you in Hindi even as you speak in English.”

After Payal Ghosh made her allegations public, Rekha Sharma, chairperson, National Commission for Women, reached out to her on Twitter and urged her to file a detailed complaint & mail it to her.

ALSO READ: Taapsee Pannu defends Anurag Kashyap against sexual harassment charge – “I’ve never seen him ever disrespecting a woman”