IRS officer and former NCB zonal director Sameer Wankhede has moved the Delhi High Court against Red Chillies Entertainment—owned by actor Shah Rukh Khan and Gauri Khan—and Netflix, alleging that their series “The Ba*ds of Bollywood” defames him and tarnishes the image of law enforcement agencies.
Wankhede’s plea seeks a permanent and mandatory injunction, a declaration, and ₹2 crore in damages, which he has said should be donated to the Tata Memorial Cancer Hospital for the benefit of cancer patients.
Filed through his legal team led by advocate Aditya Giri, the suit claims that the show spreads “false, malicious and defamatory” allegations that erode public confidence in anti-drug enforcement institutions.
The petition asserts that the series was deliberately designed to malign Wankhede, especially given that the high-profile case involving Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan Khan remains pending before the Bombay High Court and the NDPS Special Court in Mumbai.
Obscene Depiction Cited
The plea also objects to a sequence in the series where a character recites the national slogan “Satyamev Jayate” before making an obscene gesture by showing the middle finger.
According to Wankhede, this amounts to a violation of the Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act, 1971, inviting penal consequences. His petition further contends that the material contravenes provisions of the Information Technology Act and the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita by using offensive and obscene depictions intended to outrage public sentiment.
In addition to damages, Wankhede has asked the court to restrain the respondents from streaming or circulating the series in its current form.
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