SRK in a fight again ; banned from Wankhede - Page 13

Mumbai: Shah Rukh Khan, owner of IPL team Kolkata Knight Riders, has been banned from Mumbai's Wankhede stadium while an inquiry into an alleged brawl he got into last evening is conducted. The Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA), which has issued the ban, alleges that the popular actor abused and misbehaved with security personnel and its officials after a match against the Mumbai Indians.

The alleged scuffle happened when the actor and his entourage were stopped from going on to the ground after the match, which the Kolkata Knight Riders won. The MCA alleges that Shah Rukh was drunk.

The ban means that Shah Rukh Khan will not be seen at the Wankhede for any match till the inquiry is completed. There has been no comment yet from the Bollywood star.

The MCA, which administers the stadium, has lodged a police complaint; it says a security guard was manhandled by SRK's entourage. But sources say the guard's injuries are minor, which means that the complaint is likely to be treated as non-cognizable.

As part of the inquiry initiated into the incident, the statements of Wankhede staff and officials of the MCA will be recorded. No decision has been taken yet on whether Shah Rukh Khan will be called for recording his statement.

"He (Khan) misbehaved and abused the MCA security personnel as well as MCA officials, including our president Vilasrao Deshmukh, after the IPL match (between KKR and Mumbai Indians). We have decided to ban him for life from entering the stadium in future," MCA treasurer Ravi Savant said, adding "SRK was dead drunk, our security tried to stop him but he pushed him and abused in such filthy language that I cannot use it here. Our officials tried to pacify him but he started abusing them, he abused MCA, BCCI and used the f word and said whatever you want to do you do it..."

Mr Savant said after KKR's 32-run rout of the Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede, Shah Rukh and his posse of bodyguards went up to the teams' dressing room and then came down and tried to go on to the ground. "The MCA security personnel told them they could not do so as the match was over, which led to Shah Rukh abusing them as well as the MCA officials. There was manhandling too by his people," he said.

The official said IPL CEO Sundar Raman and the BCCI's media manager Devendra Prabhudesai were present when the scuffle happened.

The actor has been caught in controversy at the Wankhede before when he was seen smoking much to the disapproval of many. This is also the second brawl that the actor has allegedly been involved in in recent times. Some months ago he was reported to have got into a scuffle with Shirish Kunder, the husband of director Farah Khan. The actor has

The Shah Rukh controversy also comes very soon after the cash-rich T-20 tournament was rocked by a sting operation conducted by a TV news channel, in which five IPL players were purportedly caught on camera indulging in spot-fixing and other "murky deals." A BCCI inquiry into that will begin today. Ravi Sawani, who heads the BCCI's anti-corruption unit will conduct the inquiry.

The five accused players have been suspended pending the inquiry report.