In a statement released by filmmaker Karan Johar on his official social media handles, the director-producer has stated that allegations of narcotics being consumed at a party hosted by him on July 28, 2019, at his residence are completely 'false' and 'baseless'. Certain news channels, print/ electronic media and social media platform(s) are wrongly and misleadingly 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," Johar said in the statement. He also mentioned that he has never consumed narcotics nor promotes or encourages consumption of any such substances. "In view of the current malicious campaign, I am reiterating that the allegations are completely false and baseless. No narcotics substance were consumed at 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," he said.
He added that malicious statements against him have unnecessarily subjected his family, colleagues 'to hatred, contempt and ridicule'.Karan further clarified in his statement that reports of Dharma Production executive Kshitij Prasad and Anubhav Chopra being his 'aides', 'close aides' are not true. Finally, urging the media to show exercise restraint, he said that if not, then he will be left with no option but to 'legally protect' his 'rights against this baseless attack' on him. Instantly Bollywood celebs stood in solidarity with the filmmaker and are backing his statement. A lot of stars like Alia Bhatt, Varun Dhawan, Vicky Kaushal, Sonam Kapoor have expressed their support by liking his post. Johar's response came after an old video from a star-studded party at his residence resurfaced on social media, amid Narcotics Control Bureau's (NCB) drugs probe in connection with actor Sushant Singh Rajput's death.In the short clip, first posted by the filmmaker on Instagram last year, actors Shahid Kapoor, Deepika Padukone, Ranbir Kapoor, Varun Dhawan, Arjun Kapoor, Malaika Arora, Vicky Kaushal among others can be seen partying together. It is being alleged that drugs were consumed by several top film personalities at this party.Siromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader Manjinder Singh Sirsa in a tweet has claimed that Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) is set to summon Karan Johar soon in the drug-related case.