Former IRS officer Sameer Wankhede will now pursue his defamation case against the makers of the web series *The Ba**ds of Bollywood* before a Mumbai court after the Delhi High Court allowed him to approach the appropriate forum.
On Tuesday, a bench of Justice Vikas Mahajan permitted Wankhede to file his suit before the City Civil and Sessions Court at Dindoshi in Malad and directed all parties to appear there on February 12. The court said its order would be treated as a summons for the proceedings in Mumbai.
Wankhede had approached the Delhi High Court alleging that the web series, produced by Shah Rukh Khan-owned Red Chillies Entertainment Pvt Ltd and streaming on Netflix, contained defamatory material against him. However, the court granted permission only after it had earlier ruled that it did not have territorial jurisdiction to hear the matter.
On January 29, a bench led by Justice Purushaindra Kumar Kaurav returned the plaint, noting that all parties involved were based in Mumbai and the alleged acts of defamation had also occurred there. The court observed that Mumbai courts were the proper forum and that the Delhi High Court lacked jurisdiction in the case.
In his plea, Wankhede alleged that the series was created to malign him and settle personal scores linked to the 2021 arrest of actor Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan Khan in a drug-related case. He claimed the series, written and directed by Aryan Khan, was orchestrated to target him.
Wankhede has sought an injunction against the release or airing of the allegedly defamatory content and has claimed damages of Rs 2 crore, which he said would be donated to the Tata Memorial Cancer Hospital.