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Suit against SRK, Gauri over series not maintainable in Delhi: HC to Wankhede
Delhi HC questions the defamation suit by ex-NCB chief Wankhede against Shahrukh Khan's Red Chillies, requiring amendments for maintainability
The Delhi high court on Friday questioned the maintainability of the defamation suit filed by former Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) zonal director Sameer Wankhede against Red Chillies Entertainment limited owned by actor Shahrukh Khan and Gauri Khan claiming that a law enforcement officer portrayed in the series “Ba***ds of Bollywood” is based on him.
The court asked Wankhede to amend the suit, justifying as to why it should be entertained.
A bench of justice Purushaindra Kumar Kaurav issued the direction, even as Wankhede’s lawyer Sandeep Sethi, submitted that the Delhi high court has jurisdiction since the series has been viewed by viewers in Delhi and since posts and reactions targeting Wankhede came from individuals in Delhi.
“Your complaint is not maintainable here in Delhi. Mr Sethi, look at the cause of action jurisdiction. Had your case been that “I’ve been defamed at various places including Delhi and maximum damage has occurred in Delhi”, we would have understood and still considered the matter here in Delhi,” justice Kaurav said to Sethi.
Even though the court permitted Wankhede to amend the suit, it did not give a next date of hearing and said that the same would be listed by the registry.
In his suit, Wankhede has sought directions to Red Chillies Entertainment Limited and Netflix to take down content from Episode 1 of the series, created, co-written, and directed by Aryan Khan,specifically from the timestamp 32:02 to 33:50, which features a character who he claimed closely resembles him in both appearance and mannerisms.
The character is portrayed as a law enforcement officer using a private vehicle, sporting a luxury belt and wristwatch, and keen to target individuals connected to the film industry.
“The defamatory content appears nothing short of a calculated and vindictive ‘hit job’ orchestrated to target and malign the plaintiff. The manner in which the defamatory content was visualised and produced with innuendo-laden dialogues, suggestive editing with specific focus on negative elements of the character, makes it manifestly clear that the defamatory content was not produced and broadcast in good faith or for any legitimate purpose,” the suit stated.
In October 2021, Wankhede arrested Aryan Khan after a raid on a yacht in Mumbai. NCB in 2022 exonerated Khan and five others. A Special Investigation Team (SIT) of NCB found no evidence that Khan was part of a larger drug conspiracy or an international trafficking syndicate, and admitted that there were several irregularities in the raid during which he was arrested.
Wankhede later came under the scrutiny of multiple agencies, including the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in July 2023, for allegedly demanding a ₹25 crore bribe from Shah Rukh Khan in exchange for not implicating Aryan Khan in the case. In 2022, his tenure with NCB ended and he was sent back to his parent organisation, the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence.
