For a 52^nd birthday surprise this morning, Aditya Pancholi could not have expected anything as unpleasant as an incident from his past popping up again. Especially one involving Kangana Ranaut – the flavor of the season, who’s been on an actor-bashing spree lately in the countdown to her Friday release Simran.

This blast from Pancholi’s tumultuous past with the feisty actress dates back to February 2007 when, she said, they were in a relationship and he used to abuse her physically and mentally. Appearing on TV impresario Rajat Sharma’s show Aap Ki Adalat last week, Kangana made a passing reference to the incident. But since there was no confirmation of what happened back then, the usually unforgiving Rajat Sharma let it pass without further comment.

But coming back to haunt Pancholi (and that too on his birthday) is an eyewitness to the ugly public spat that happened that night. Lokhandwala restaurateur and social activist Gurpreet Singh Anand confirmed in a video to Peeping Moon.com that it was he and some friends who rushed to Kangana’s rescue at the time. What’s more, aware that the actress is out to settle old scores with old boyfriends, Gurpreet is willing to back Kangana if she decides to take legal action against the “woman beater” Aditya Pancholi even today.

"It was midnight of February 13, 2007. I was on my way home from an event with a friend on my scooter when an autorickshaw overtook us on the Versova Link Road with a glamorous woman screaming for help from inside. She was crying ‘Bhaiya bachao, jaldi chalo!’ Before we could react, a Maruti Zen pulled up before the autorickshaw and a tall man in a sports jacket wearing a cap got out. We recognized them as Aditya Pancholi and Kangana Ranaut. It was a typical filmi scene. He grabbed her by the hair and tried to force her into the car. When we ran up to help, Aditya warned us to stay out saying this was a 'family matter.' But I told him that it was no more a family matter since he had punched and battered the woman in public. Then the local slum-dwellers arrived and informed the Police Control," narrated Gurpreet.

Peeping Moon.com editor-director Nishant A Bhuse, who was then a senior crime journalist, arrived on the scene by which time Kangana scaled a high wall to escape from Aditya’s rage. She reportedly hid in a garbage bin 50 meters away till the early hours. Nishant witnessed the police taking down Gurpreet’s statement. The crime correspondent got in touch with Pancholi who gave him a different story. Pancholi stated that Kangana had a fight with the autorickshaw driver who was taking her to an isolated lane and called him for help. Aditya claimed that he “rescued” Kangana from a scary situation and was shocked by accusations that he had assaulted her. Surprisingly, when contacted, Kangana also corroborated the story. As per her version, “The autorickshaw driver was taking a wrong route and I called Aditya for help. He was angry with me because of the incident and I got scared. I went to the other side of the road and got in his car when he cooled down. I went home with him.”

Nishant even got in touch with Aditya Pancholi's wife, Zarina Wahab, who said she was unaware of what had happened and asked the correspondent to keep trying the actor for his version of the story!

What’s the truth? Watch Gurpreet’s account in the video above.