IRS officer and former NCB zonal director Sameer Wankhede on Thursday filed a defamation suit in the Delhi High Court against Shah Rukh Khan and Gauri Khan’s Red Chillies Entertainment and streaming platform Netflix. The plea alleges that their series The Ba***ds of Bollywood contains “false, malicious and defamatory” content intended to damage his reputation.
Wankhede’s petition seeks permanent and mandatory injunction, declaration and damages against Red Chillies Entertainment Private Limited, Netflix, and others. He has sought ₹2 crore in damages, which he has requested to be donated to Tata Memorial Cancer Hospital for cancer patients.
“This series disseminates a misleading and negative portrayal of anti-drug enforcement agencies, thereby eroding public confidence in law enforcement institutions,” Advocate Aditya Giri, one of Wankhede’s lawyers, argued.
The plea further states that the series was deliberately conceptualised and executed to malign Wankhede’s reputation, particularly as the case involving him and Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan Khan is still pending before the Bombay High Court and the NDPS Special Court in Mumbai.
Allegations of Obscene Content and Violation of Law
According to the plea, the series depicts a character making an obscene gesture—showing the middle finger after reciting “Satyamev Jayate,” part of India’s National Emblem. The petition claims this act is a grave violation of the Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act, 1971, which carries penal consequences.
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It also alleges that the content contravenes provisions of the Information Technology Act and the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), as it seeks to outrage national sentiment through obscene and offensive material.
The Delhi High Court will now hear Wankhede’s plea seeking legal action and damages against the makers of the controversial series.
