Big update! Delhi High Court rejects Sameer Wankhede's defamation suit against Aryan Khan’s The Ba***ds of Bollywood

On Thursday (29 Jan), IRS officer Sameer Wankhede faced a setback after the Delhi High Court rejected the defamation suit filed by him over Aryan Khan's directorial series, The Ba***ds of Bollywood. The defamation suit was filed over a scene, which he claims parodies and defames him. After a months-long hearing, Wankhede's case has been dismissed. In the recent verdict, the Court said that it lacks jurisdiction to entertain the complaint.

Former Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) officer Wankhede filed a defamation lawsuit against Shah Rukh Khan’s production company Red Chillies Entertainment and Netflix in late Sept 2025.

With this judgment, the High Court declined to entertain Wankhede's defamation claim.

Wankhede had approached the Court seeking interim directions against Shah Rukh Khan's production house, Red Chillies Entertainment, and OTT platform Netflix, including the removal of certain scenes from the series, alleging that they were defamatory and harmed his reputation.

"With the main contesting defendants (Red Chillies), residing in Mumbai, the plaintiff (Wankhede) himself being a resident of Mumbai, and further the wrong, as per the plaintiff’s own plaint, having also occurred at Mumbai, the Merger Rule of Tejpal applies with full force. The jurisdiction to entertain the present suit, lies only with the courts in Mumbai .... This Court lacks the jurisdiction to entertain the plaint, the same is, therefore, returned to the plaintiff, to be presented, if so advised, before a Court of competent jurisdiction. Pending applications, if any, stand disposed of," the Court said.

Sameer filed the case against Netflix, Aryan Khan, Red Chillies Entertainment, X Corp, Google LLC, and Meta platforms and two others.

Why Wankhede sued Netflix and Aryan Khan : The case explained

Wamkhede, who had arrested Aryan Khan in 2021 in a drug case, had filed the case against the show over a scene that he claims is inspired by him and is defamatory and tarnishes his reputation. He sought Rs 2 crore in damages from Red Chillies Entertainment, SRK and his wife Gauri Khan's production house and the company behind The Ba***ds of Bollywood.

Besides damages, Wankhede also demanded to take down defamatory content.

The raid scene of The Ba***ds of Bollywood

The scene in question is from the first episode of the show titled "Meet the Ba***ds Khan. A police van arrives, and a man resembling Sameer Wankhede, played by an actor, steps out. He says, "I will raid this venue today", and "Drugs have ruined this country".

He then arrests a Bollywood actor who wasn't doing drugs, saying "Satyamev Jayate", a phrase Wankhede often used during Aryan Khan's case.