Hours before match, criminal complaint against Kings XI Punjab

MOHALI - Things are certainly not going right for Kings XI Punjab. Their key paceman Brett Lee Friday opted out of the Indian Premier League-III for ten days and Saturday, just hours before their match, an NGO here filed a criminal complaint against them.

Chandigarh-based NGO Global Human Rights Council (GHRC) raised serious objections on the publishing of some freedom fighters photographs in the team’s advertisements and filed a complaint with Mohali police chief Gurpreet Singh Bhullar.

The team, however, immediately offered an apology and said the offending advertisements would be recalled.

“They have hurt the feelings of millions of Indians by using the image of our freedom fighters to promote their franchisee team, that is totally driven by profits. These freedom fighters are not at all related with the game of cricket,” GHRC president Arvind Thakur told IANS.

“Besides staging a protest, we have also filed a written criminal complaint with the Mohali SSP (senior superintendent of police) against Preity Zinta, Nes Wadia and other management of Kings XI Punjab. We will also file a criminal case against them in the court.”

Acting on the complaint, Mohali police have asked the superintendent of police (detective) to probe the matter.

However, in damage control mode, Kings XI Punjab offered an apology and said that they did not mean to hurt anybody’s sentiments.

Preity Zinta, chairperson and promoter of Kings XI Punjab said: “Kings XI Punjab is a people driven franchise and is sensitive to the sentiments of its community. We have been made to understand that our recent advertisement portraying known leaders from the past have hurt certain segments of the community.

“Therefore, we apologise to the people if their sentiments have been hurt and the advertisement will be recalled with an immediate effect,” she said.

Kings XI Punjab took on Delhi Daredevils in their first match of IPL-III at Punjab Cricket Association (PCA) stadium here Saturday evening.