Bollywood’s superstar trio Shah Rukh Khan, Akshay Kumar and Ajay Devgn have been reportedly served notices by theCentral Consumer Protection Authority(CCPA) for appearing in a controversial ad for pan masala brand Vimal. SB Pandey, the Deputy Solicitor General, has apprised the Lucknow bench, comprising Justice Rajesh Singh Chauhan, of the notices by the CCPA.

The notices were served after a contempt petition was filed by Advocate Motilal Yadav against the actors who, according to him, despite being Padma awardees endorsed harmful habits such as tobacco chewing. Show cause notices were issued to actors Shah Rukh Khan, Akshay Kumar and Ajay Devgn on October 20.

The court had earlier asked the government to address the petitioner’s concerns, but despite the petition being filed on October 22, no action followed. This led to the contempt petition.

A few months ago, the actors landed in hot water over the controversial Vimal ad. Akshay Kumar particularly received more flak since he famously apologised to his fans last year and even swore to stop endorsing the brand.

Netizens lashed out at actor Kumar the ad was aired during the India vs Australia ICC Men's World Cup match, prompting the actor to come out all guns blazing on X (formerly Twitter) to explain his side of the story and give "fact-checking" lessons to media houses who were quick to assume that he “returned as the brand ambassador” of the tobacco brand.

“‘Returns’ as ambassador? Here’s some fact check for you Bollywood Hungama, if by chance you are interested in things other than fake news. These ads were shot on 13th October, 2021. I have not had anything to do with the brand ever since I publicly announced the discontinuation of the endorsement. They can legally run the already shot ads till the end of next month. Chill and do some real news,” he wrote.