Bigg Boss 10: Yuvraj Singh's mother Shabnam to file defamation suit against Akansha Sharma

Cricketer Yuvraj Singh’s mother Shabnam has decided to take action against her ex-daughter-in-law Akansha Sharma — who was ousted from Colors TV’s Bigg Boss 10 this weekend — for ‘maligning’ and ‘defaming’ the family name during her stint on the controversial reality show,  and post-eviction as well. “Why do you think she got eliminated? It’s not just because she wasn’t playing the game well but it was due to the fact that she was discrediting Yuvraj, who is a national hero. Obviously, there was public outrage as his fans didn’t like it and voted her out. Yuvi has got a huge fan following and who’s she? She’s merely hopping on Yuvi’s fame and was lying all the time. We will take lawful recourse.” [caption id=“attachment_3081920” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Shabnam Singh (L); Akansha Sharma (R)[/caption] Shabnam’s lawyer, Chandigarh-based Daman Bir Sobti said, “Yes, we will be filing a civil suit for damages and a criminal complaint for defamation. We will take video footage from the Bigg Boss house for further proof. She (Akansha) has also been giving a lot of interviews post-eviction. Shabnam will be coming to Chandigarh to discuss the matter with me.” “Shabnam is currently busy with Yuvraj’s wedding but lot of people have been calling her over this matter and we have to act fast,” added Sobti, who’s also the additional advocate general of Punjab. Meanwhile, to Shabnam’s allegation that Akansha had substance abuse issues, the latter countered that the entire Singh family had the problem. “As far as substance abuse goes, it was there in their family too. Whatever I did was with them. I smoked pot (marijuana) with my husband. Yuvi also told me he smoked pot. It is a very common thing in the industry. My mother-in-law now needs to say something to justify herself,” Akansha said. Denying this, Shabnam said, “My son has given his blood, sweat and tears to the nation, this is insulting to him.” So has Yuvraj discussed the matter with his mother? “Yuvi hasn’t told me anything, he doesn’t get into these things but just one tweet from him and there will be lot of outrage. He prefers keeping quiet. Also, he’s busy with his upcoming wedding and we don’t want to give her publicity. I would have definitely helped her if she’d asked for it, if she wanted to do something in life. It is her right and dignity. But she can’t badmouth us this way. Her lawyers are misguiding her.” Daman Bir Sobti said, “Can an international player be on dope? He’s got the World Cup for our country, he has survived cancer because of his good health. He’s a teetotaler, how can he be doping? In fact, she was suspected to be on dope and has been given a fair chance by way of counseling." While confiding in a co-contestant, television actor Gaurav Chopra, on the reality show, Gurgaon-based Akansha claimed that the Singh family made her starve for money and it was a struggle to get Rs 3,000 a month. Stating that it’s the husband’s responsibility to maintain the wife and not the mother-in-law’s, Daman Bir Sobti clarified, “Apart from giving her cash, Shabnam used to give her Rs 20,000 through RTGS every month. The wedding lasted for four months and she was in that house till September 2014 but my client kept giving her money till April 2015. Then she threatened to go to the press with false stories and demanded money. Akansha herself said that the marriage was on a rebound after her breakup, and on grounds of indifference and mental cruelty Zoravar filed a divorce petition, which is pending in Chandigarh.” Further, Akansha alleged that Shabnam accompanied the couple on their honeymoon and also stayed in the same room. Calling it absolutely false and absurd, Sobti said, “Shabnam and the Singh family had a strong suspicion immediately after the wedding that Akansha had some kind of substance abuse issue. They spoke to her mother, Monica, who admitted that her daughter had a problem. It was on Monica’s request that they should not leave her (Akansha) alone, that Shabnam bore all the expenses and both the mothers went with the couple to Goa. We can share evidence with air tickets and bank account statements showing the monthly money transfer." While Akansha alleged that Shabnam pressured her to conceive, Sobti said this was untrue. “On the one hand she says that Shabnam stayed in the same room as the couple, and on the other hand, she says that she was forced to make out with Zoravar. That’s absurd.”