Ex-NCB officer Sameer Wankhede files defamation suit alleging ‘negative’ portrayal of agency in ‘Ba***ds of Bollywood’

Former Zonal Director at the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), Sameer Wankhede, has filed a defamation suit in the Delhi High Court against Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan’s Red Chillies Entertainment and streaming platform Netflix over an allegedly problematic portrayal of the anti-narcotics agency.According to the petition, the series “disseminates a misleading and negative portrayal of anti-drug enforcement agencies, thereby eroding public confidence in law enforcement institutions.” 

Wankhede, who headed an investigation against Aryan Khan during his stint at the NCB, in a statement to the media claimed that the series was “deliberately conceptualised and executed with the intent to malign Sameer Wankhede’s reputation in a colourable and prejudicial manner.” who was acquitted of all the charges in May 2022 and Wankhede was removed from the case after being accused of blackmail.

In his statement, Wankhede pointed out that the series came out at a time “especially when the case involving Sameer Wankhede and Aryan khan is pending and sub-judice before the Hon’ble Bombay High Court and the NDPS Special Court, Mumbai.”

Wankhade also raised objections against a scene in the series, in which a character is shown raising a middle finger immediately after uttering “Satyamev Jayate.”

Sameer Wankhede came into the spotlight after an NCB team

The petition seeks relief in the form of a permanent and mandatory injunction, a declaration, and damages amounting to Rs 2 crore for the “false, malicious, and defamatory” portrayal of the NCB in the Netflix series The Ba***ds of Bollywood, directed by Aryan Khan.