SC stays High Court order in KBC-11I

New Delhi, May 4 (UNI) The Supreme Court today stayed till the next date of hearing the order of Delhi High Court directing Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Commission ( MRTPC) to investigate the allegations of fraud or manipulations as all celebrities participating in the Kaun Banega Crorepati-II(KBC-III) anchored by film star Shahrukh Khan have been winning huge prizes without exception indicating some scandal.

A bench comprising Justices B P Singh and H S Bedi granted the interim stay when the petition filed by the sponsors of KBC-III namely Star India Pvt Ltd was mentioned by senior counsel Arun Jaitley for early hearing.

The Delhi high court in its judgment dated April 27 passed on a petition filed by one Anuj Kumar Bhatti , failed aspirant to the 'hot seat' who had alleged that film stars invariably won hefty sums and Star India Pvt Ltd has allowed its staff members to participate.

The petitioner had also alleged that people were being allured through false and misleading advertisements to send SMS and make calls to answer about 1500 questions to make it to the hot seat.

The matter is likely to come up for hearing next week.

The Star India in its petition has challenged the high court judgment on the grounds that it was damaging the reputation and credibility of the show and no fraud or manipulations were involved.

The petitioner has however failed to explain how all the film stars and celebrities taking part in the show have been winning hefty sums while commoners have not been doing well at the show.

UNI