Mumbai: Comedian Kapil Sharma started his day on Twitter defending Bollywood superstar Salman Khan but it soon turned into an ugly, full blown abusive rant.

His tirade on Twitter involved abusive engagements with Twitteratis, where he blamed the "system" and accused the "paid media" for spreading negativity about Salman, who was yesterday sentenced to five years in jail in the blackbuck poaching case. "Maine bohat saare aise maharaja type dekhe hai jo bade fakr se batate hai ki humne sher ka shikaar kiya hai... main mila hun unse. Salman bohat logo ki madat karta hai... accha aadmi hai... I don't know if he did it or not...but see his best sides...ghatiya system... let me do good work (I have seen many royals who claim that they have killed lions...I have met them...Salman has helped a lot of people..He is a good man.)" read one of his tweet.

In another post, Kapil, who has 12 million followers on Twitter, requested media to refrain from spreading "negative news" about the 52-year-old star. "Agar main prime minister hota to fake news banane walo ko faansi laga deta (If I were the prime minister, I would have hanged the people spreading fake news)" he tweeted. Kapil, however, deleted the tweets soon, claiming his account was hacked.

"Hi all please ignore the previous offensive tweets as my account was hacked . Apologies for the inconvenience caused. Love and regards to all," Kapil tweeted. This tweet was also deleted soon. The actor-comedian may have removed the posts but the screenshots of the same went viral on the microblogging site, with many people expressing shock and disdain.

One of the users wrote, "Kapil Sharma's biography: 'What not to do when you are successful'." "Kapil Sharma has given food for memes today," another post read. "Abuse nights with Kapil Sharma," a user tweeted alongside the screenshots of Kapil's tweets. The comedian, who became a household name with show "Comedy Nights with Kapil", has been going through a rough patch in his career as well as in his personal life.

It all started with infamous mid-night brawl with actor Sunil Grover. Followed by which Grover left his show along with other artistes including Ali Asgar. Last year, Kapil, 37, had confessed that he was suffering from depression and had undergone treatment for the same. The comedy star recently made a comeback to small screen with "Family Time With Kapil Sharma"but the show has not been able to recreate the success of his previous show.

PTI