The Calcutta High Court on Thursday, 5 September, directed Shah Rukh Khan to file an affidavit explaining his relation with the Indian Institute of Planning and Management (IIPM), against which a CBI probe has been sought for allegedly misleading and duping students.
The petitioners, who are students of the institute, have claimed that they had been influenced by advertisements for IIPM in which Shah Rukh had appeared. Their lawyer Dipanjan Datta claimed that the actor was a brand ambassador for the institute, which was denied by Shah Rukh's counsel. He told the court that the actor had only appeared in some advertisements for the institute.
The Calcutta High Court directed Shah Rukh Khan and IIPM promoter Arindam Chaudhuri to file individual affidavits in the matter before the court within two weeks after the Durga Puja vacation. The West Bengal government was also directed to file an affidavit before the court explaining why a probe into the allegations against the IIPM should not be handed over to the CBI from the state police.
A group of students from IIPM had filed a criminal case against the institute in 2018 at New Town police station in Kolkata after the University Grants Commission (UGC) said the organisation is not affiliated to it and the Delhi High Court declared it to be a fake institute.
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)