Vivek Agnihotri calls Tanushree Dutta's claim of sexual misconduct as

Vivek Agnihotri's lawyer released a statement on behalf of his client which was shared by the director on his Twitter page.

He said the allegations by Dutta are deliberate and done with an intent to attract publicity.

“The allegations levelled against my client Mr Vivek Agnihotri by Ms Tanushree Dutta for misbehaviour and/or harassment are absolutely false, frivolous and vexatious. These allegations are deliberate and have been borne with an intent to attract publicity and wreak personal vendetta against my client with malafide intentions," the lawyer's statement read.

Agnihotri has sent a legal notice to Dutta with defamation charges.

"On the instruction of my client, we have served a legal notice to initiate defamation action against her,” the statement said.

In the statement, his lawyer has requested all media to refrain from reporting this case against Agnihotri without any evidence to support the same.

Last week,  Dutta said she had an unpleasant experience on the sets of 2005 Hindi film Chocolate.

In an interview with DNA, Tanushree said she was asked by director Vivek Agnihotri to strip and dance to give cues to co-actor Irrfan Khan.

Recounting her experience, she had said: "...This guy wanted me to give cues to an actor. It was an actor's closeup. It was not even my shot. I was not even in the shot. It was the actor's closeup and he had to look at something and give expressions.The director told me jao ja ke kapde utaar k nacho (go, strip and dance)."

Tanushree also said Irrfan, the actor (who was in the shot), and other co-star Sunil Shetty had protested the incident.

According to Tanushree, Irrfan had reacted saying, "I don't need her to take off her coat and dance...I know how to act."

The actress had further said: "Sunil Shetty also spoke up...Quite offended by it, he was like (said) main ayoo kya wah pe cues dene k liye  (should I come there to give cues)?"

Tanushree has also said she was suffering from fever at the time the incident occurred. She accused Agnihotri of not switching off the air conditioner despite her requests.

Days ago, Tanushree had alleged that actor Nana Patekar misbehaved with her on the sets of 2008 movie Horn Ok Pleassss.

The Indian actress said Nana's reputation of sexual misconduct is well known in the Hindi film industry.

"Everyone knows about Nana Patekar that he has always been disrespectful towards women. People in the industry know about this and that he has beaten actresses, he has molested them, his behaviour with women has always been crude but no publication has printed anything about it," the 34-year actress told Zoom.

Dutta said the incident of misbehavior occurred during the shooting of the Bollywood movie in 2008.

The actress said she was supposed to perform a special dance number for in the movie.

The actress told News 18 that Patekar made her uncomfortable to the extent that she eventually had to opt out of doing the song.

Following her allegation against Patekar, several actors- Priyanka Chopra, Swara Bhasker, Sonam Kapoor Ahuja, Twinkle Khanna, Farhan Akhtar- came out in support of Tanushree.