bollywood

Updated: Oct 13, 2018 16:21 IST

Actor, singer and director Farhan Akhtar is maintaining that their family did not know about cousin Sajid Khan’s alleged misbehaviour with women. Farhan lashed out at Aisha actor Amrita Puri for insinuating that Sajid’s family knew about his misconduct but chose to ignore it.

Sajid has been accused of sexual harassment by an actor, an assistant director and a journalist. Farhan shared a tweet on Friday writing how he is shocked by the allegations levelled against his cousin and said ‘he will have to find a way to atone for his alleged actions.’ Sajid’s sister Farah also shared a similarly worded tweet.

Amrita reacted to their statements saying it was hard to believe that Sajid’s family did not know about his behaviour. “It was fairly well known that @SimplySajidK is a creep and is completely inappropriate as far as his conduct with women goes. I was warned to stay away from him if I ever came across him. I refuse to believe that it has come as a surprise to ppl from the industry or his family,” she wrote in a tweet.

I deeply resent your insinuation that me or my family knew of his behaviour yet did nothing. Your anger is justified. Your conspiracy theories not. @_Amrita_Puri https://t.co/MCLptZioWR — Farhan Akhtar (@FarOutAkhtar) October 13, 2018

Farhan decided to react to Amrita’s tweet by calling it a ‘conspiracy theory.’ “I deeply resent your insinuation that me or my family knew of his behaviour yet did nothing. Your anger is justified. Your conspiracy theories not,” he wrote in a tweet.

Amrita then apologised to Farhan saying she didn’t realise he was related to Sajid. “My tweet was not directed to you. Are you related? Pardon my ignorance. Also it’s not fair to generalise as I did. My apologies. However @SimplySajidK’s misconducts were fairly well known. I’m surprised that it’s come as a shock,” she wrote in a reply to his tweet.

My tweet was not directed to you. Are you related? Pardon my ignorance. Also it’s not fair to generalise as I did. My apologies. However @SimplySajidK’s misconducts were fairly well known. I’m surprised that it’s come as a shock. — Amrita Puri (@_Amrita_Puri) October 13, 2018

On Friday morning, actor Akshay Kumar announced his decision to cancel the shoot of Sajid’s directorial Housefull 4 until “further investigation”. Sajid himself stepped down as director of Housefull 4, and urged “friends in the media to kindly not pass judgment till the truth is out”. In response, Sajid wrote on Twitter: “In the wake of the allegations against me and the pressure being put on my family, my producer and the stars of my film ‘Housefull 4’, I must take the moral responsibility of stepping down from my directorial post, till the time I can allay the allegations and prove the truth... I request my friends in the media to kindly not pass judgment till the truth is out.”

Several celebrities’ names have cropped up in the #MeToo movement, leading several others to take a stern stand.

Follow @htshowbiz for more