British Airport Authority has disputed a claim by Bollywood star Shahrukh Khan that his naked image was printed and circulated by body scanner operators at Heathrow Airport, reports The Telegraph, London.
The airport owner said the claims made by the My Name Is Khan star on the Friday Night with Jonathan Ross show were “completely factually incorrect”.
The 44-year-old pin-up, nicknamed ‘SRK', said female security staff at the London airport had printed his naked image, as captured by the newly-installed body scanner.
He even claimed he had autographed the pictures, although it is not clear if his comments were intended as a joke.
The star's claims have resonance because his latest film, My Name Is Khan, which is about racial profiling of Muslims at airports after the September 11 2001 terror attacks.
A report last August that he was detained for questioning at Newark Liberty Airport near New York City sparked outrage in India.
Appearing on the BBC chat show, he told Mr Ross of his experiences with the new body-scanners, that were introduced at Heathrow on the orders of the UK government in the wake of the transatlantic Christmas Day terror attack on a plane as it neared Detroit.
He said: “I'm always stopped by the security, because of the name. And I think its okay: the western world is a little bit worried, paranoid and touchy, I guess – and freely when they're frisking you.
“I was in London recently going through the airport and these new machines have come up, the body scans. You've got to see them. It makes you embarrassed – if you're not well endowed.
“You walk into the machine and everything – the whole outline of your body – comes out.”
SRK added: “I was a little scared. Something happens [inside the scans], and I came out. Then I saw these girls – they had these printouts. I looked at them. I thought they were some forms you had to fill. I said 'give them to me' – and you could see everything inside. So I autographed them for them.”
However, a BAA spokeswoman said the claims were “completely factually incorrect” because the body-scanning equipment had no capability to print images. She stressed that images captured by the equipment could not be stored or distributed in any form.
She also added that the scanners had only been brought into use four days before the chat show was recorded and was only used for departing passengers, making it unlikely – although not entirely impossible – that the Bollywood actor would have used them in any case.
She said there would be no investigation into his claims because they "simply could not be true".
Khan was not immediately available for comment on the BAA denial. He has appeared in more than 70 films, and has consistently topped popularity rankings in India for the past several years.
When he visited the city to promote his film My Name Is Khan, he passed through the body-scanners and even autographed the printouts for his fans.
“I'm always stopped by the security, because of the name. And I think it's okay: the western world is a little bit worried, paranoid and touchy, I guess - and feel when they're frisking you,” Khan revealed on 'Friday Night With Jonathan Ross' which is one of the most popular weekend shows of British television.
Recalling his experience at the London airport, Khan said: “I was in London recently going through the airport and these new machines have come up, the body scans. You've got to see them. It makes you embarrassed - if you're not well endowed...You walk into the machine and everything - the whole outline of your body - comes out.”Though SRK admitted he was scared inside the scanners, he had the good sense of autographing the printouts.
“I was a little scared. Something happens (inside the scans), and I came out. Then I saw these girls - they had these printouts. I looked at them. I thought they were some forms you had to fill. I said 'give them to me' - and you could see everything inside. So I autographed them for them,” SRK said.
In ‘My Name Is Khan', SRK plays a Muslim man with Aspergers Syndrome. He lives in the US but after the 9/11 attacks his life goes for a toss and he embarks on a unique journey to tell the US president that he is not a terrorist. The film is slated to release on the coming Friday.
