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Musician and actor Ali Zafar has filed a case worth Rs1 billion against fellow artist Meesha Shafi in a sessions court in Lahore, accusing her of defamation.

Zafar's lawyer Khwaja Tariq Rahim said of the case: "Meesha Shafi's allegations against Ali Zafar were false and baseless. Meesha Shafi leveled these accusations against Ali Zafar to gain cheap publicity... despite being sent a legal notice she has not apologised."

In a statement on Twitter on Thursday, April 19, Meesha had accused Ali of sexually harassing her on more than one occasion. She wrote, “I have been subjected, on more than one occasion, to sexual harassment of a physical nature at the hands of a colleague from my industry: Ali Zafar [...] It has been an extremely traumatic experience for me and my family [...] I feel betrayed by his behaviour and attitude and I know that I'm not alone.”

Ali denied the allegations in a statement on the same day, "I categorically deny any and all claims of harassment lodged against me by Ms Shafi." Later, he sent Meesha a legal notice in which he demanded that Meesha delete the tweet that contained her allegations against him and issued an apology on Twitter, failing which he will file a Rs100 crore defamation suit against her.

Following Meesha's allegations, several women came forward on Twitter to also accuse Ali Zafar of harassment.

Images has reached out to Meesha Shafi for comment.

This is a developing story and will be updated accordingly