Patna: An FIR was filed in Bihar on Friday against officials of Maggi noodles maker Nestle and Bollywood actors Amitabh Bachchan, Madhuri Dixit and Preity Zinta, brand ambassadors of the food item, following a court order.
"In compliance with a court's order, an FIR was filed in Muzaffarpur's Kazi Mohammadpur police station," a district police official said.
On Monday, advocate Sudhir Kumar Ojha had filed a criminal case in the court of additional Chief Judicial Magistrate, Muzaffarpur, Ramchandra Prasad. The court had directed Kazi Mohammadpur Police Station to register FIR against the three actors, besides two top officials of Nestle India and investigate the complaint by a lawyer.
The complainant claimed that he bought Maggi noodles from a shop at Lenin chowk in Muzaffarpur on May 30 and was taken ill after eating it. This, he said, prompted him to file a case against Nestle, the makers of Maggi, and the film stars who have promoted the product as brand ambassadors.
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Lenin Chowk falls under Kazi Mohammadpur police station. The case has been filed under IPC sections 270 (malignant act likely to spread infection of disease dangerous to life), 273 (sale of noxious food or drink), 276 (sale of a drug as a different drug or preparation) and 420 (cheating and dishonesty).
The three actors are already facing a similar case in a Barabanki court in Uttar Pradesh.
Yesterday, India's food safety watchdog, Food Safety Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), ordered Nestle to withdraw and recall all nine Maggi noodle variants, halt their production and also stop exports, saying samples were found to be unsafe and hazardous for humans.
The popular snack has been hounded by controversy after reports of the presence of harmful contents surfaced.
Meanwhile, Nestle said it is withdrawing the product from Indian market due to 'unfounded confusions' that has affected the consumer trust, but maintained that its noodles are safe for consumption.
Nestle global CEO Paul Bulcke flew in from Switzerland to take stock of the situation following Maggi was banned in states such as Delhi, Tamil Nadu and Gujarat, among others. "We felt unfounded reasons resulted in confusion and the trust of consumers was shaken," Bulcke said in a press conference here.
