Ismail denies affair with Poonam Yadav

Saturday afternoon has left many shocked. Several rumors have been doing rounds since the unfortunate incident. The tragic incident has set tongues wagging with many blaming music director Ismail Darbar. He was her mentor on Sa Re Ga Ma Pa and the two were rumored to have shared a close relationship.

But the music director Ismail Darbar has lashed out all allegations by saying, “Controversies have always been my middle name. But when it comes on your izzat, you cannot sit quietly and take things lying down."

Ismail Darbar refers to the story in a tabloid where they accused him of being responsible for Sa Re Ga Ma contestant Poonam Yadav"s supposed abortion and a suicide attempt that followed. Incidentally, the journalist spoke to Ismail Darbar when he was performing his mother"s last rites, and called him a pretender and went ahead and printed the story based on a phone call without even bothering to contact Poonam or her mother.

He further speaks, “She said once on the show that her father died when she was still in her mother"s womb. I told her in the show that day that I am your father from today. I will see that you achieve your dreams. I don"t make statements in the air. I say what I feel." Ismail Darbar is angry at journalists who resort to cheap yellow journalism to sell tabloids. “It is quality that makes you sell. Not cheapness," says Darbar who has sued the paper for Rs 25 crore. “I am a respectable man, a father of five children. I have three teenaged kids who have to face the world. My sisters are getting questions from their in-laws. Why? Who is responsible for this? And what right do people have to accuse and write on people without proof?

Even if they did write without investigating properly, post my notice and the realization that the news was false; the paper should have clarified and restored my dignity but they failed to do so. What score did they have to settle? Since they did not think twice before tarnishing my image, I will stop at nothing now," thunders Darbar who unlike his fiery self, kept mum till the time he found out that Poonam had no affair or abortion and the sleeping pill overdose was done in a fit of depression. “They accused that I had an affair and was responsible for her abortion. I got her a flat in Mumbai, went with her to Varanasi and what not? So much muck thrown at my reputation without even an ounce of truth How dare they?"

Continues Ismail, “My anger and usual fiery self would not have helped her. I did not know if she really had an affair with some local boy and had an abortion and did that trauma make her take a drastic step to try and end her life. Those questions could only be answered by Poonam and no one else. Only she could clear my name as I was completely innocent. My entire family prayed for her, and I asked my wife to call and inquire the truth post her coming into her senses. When she revealed that in her life, there was neither an affair nor an abortion, I decided to go ahead and say what I was suppressing all along.

If this girl had died, I would have had to spend my entire life telling people I was framed. At least today, she came out, thanks to Allah, and is speaking out," storms Darbar who feels that even if he weren"t Ismail Darbar the personality, he would still stand up for what is right. “Zulm sehna bhi utna hi gunaah hai jitna ki karna," he says. “I will make sure I get justice and so does Poonam. We are people not pawns."