Former Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) officer Sameer Wankhede has broken his silence on the lawsuit he recently filed against the Netflix series The B**ds of Bollywood, directed by Aryan Khan and produced by Shah Rukh Khan and Gauri Khan’s company, Red Chillies Entertainment. Speaking briefly to the media on Saturday, Wankhede declined to go into details, saying, “I don’t want to comment on this. I will just say one thing — Satyamev Jayate (Truth alone triumphs).” His restrained reaction comes amid the controversy surrounding the series, which he claims has damaged his reputation.
Wankhede came into the national spotlight in 2021 after he arrested Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan Khan on allegations of drug possession, consumption, and trafficking. Aryan was later granted bail after spending three weeks in jail. The new Netflix project directed by Aryan has reignited the debate over the high-profile case, with Wankhede alleging that the series misrepresents him in a prejudiced manner. In his lawsuit, he has demanded Rs 2 crore in damages, which he has pledged to donate to Tata Memorial Cancer Hospital.
A key element of his petition objects to a controversial scene in the series, where a character raises the middle finger immediately after uttering India’s national motto, Satyamev Jayate. Wankhede argues that this act violates the Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act, 1971, and constitutes a punishable offence. His plea further alleges that the series has been deliberately crafted to malign his image and cast him in a negative light while the legal proceedings between him and Aryan Khan remain active before the Bombay High Court and the NDPS Special Court in Mumbai.
The legal battle took a turn on Friday when the Delhi High Court heard his petition and directed him to amend the defamation plea. Justice Purushaindra Kumar Kaurav ruled that the plaint could not be entertained in Delhi, noting, “Your plaint is not maintainable here in Delhi. I am rejecting your plaint. If your case was that defamation happened in multiple places, including Delhi, and the biggest damage was here, we might have heard it.” Senior advocate Sandeep Sethi, representing Wankhede, argued that since the series is streaming in multiple cities, including Delhi, the defamation extends there as well. However, the court remained firm, insisting that the case could not proceed in its current form.
The court has allowed Wankhede time to amend his application and refile it in the appropriate jurisdiction. Once the amended plaint is submitted, the court registry will assign a date for the next hearing. Until then, Wankhede’s defamation suit against Aryan Khan’s Netflix series remains in legal limbo, even as public attention continues to focus on the clash between the former NCB officer and Bollywood’s most prominent family.
