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Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer and former Mumbai zonal director at the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) Sameer Wankhede has approached the Delhi High Court with a defamation suit against Red Chillies Entertainment Pvt Ltd, the production house owned by Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan and his wife Gauri Khan, along with streaming platform Netflix and others, news 5.

In his plea, Wankhede has sought permanent and mandatory injunction, declaration, and damages, alleging that the recently released web series 'The Ba**ds of Bollywood' contains false, malicious, and defamatory content, which is Aryan Khan’s directorial debut.

According to the petition, Wankhede alleged that the series “disseminates a misleading and negative portrayal of anti-drug enforcement agencies, thereby eroding public confidence in law enforcement institutions".

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According to the ANI report, he also alleged that the show has been “deliberately conceptualised and executed with the intent to malign Sameer Wankhede’s reputation in a colourable and prejudicial manner”, particularly when cases involving him and Aryan Khan are still pending before the Bombay High Court and the NDPS Special Court in Mumbai.

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Wankhede’s suit specifically pointed to a controversial sequence in the series where a character is seen reciting “Satyamev Jayate” before making an obscene gesture. The plea argued that this act “constitutes a grave and sensitive violation of the provisions of the Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act, 1971”, and attracts penal consequences.

The suit also contended that the series contravenes provisions of the Information Technology Act and the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), as it seeks to “outrage national sentiment through the use of obscene and offensive material”.

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In his defamation suit, Wankhede has sought damages of Rs 2 crore, stating that the amount would be donated to Tata Memorial Cancer Hospital for the treatment of cancer patients. He has also sought the Delhi High Court’s direction to restrain further streaming and distribution of the series, along with a declaration of its defamatory nature.

Wankhede maintained that beyond harming his personal reputation, the content of the show “undermines faith in institutions responsible for enforcing drug laws.”

The Delhi High Court is expected to hear the matter soon.

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