Baby boy for SRK amid controversy

Mumbai, Jly 04 – Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan became a father for the third time at the end of May, Mumbai officials said Wednesday, amid a controversy over whether the actor and his wife had undergone an illegal prenatal sex test.

A spokesman at Mumbai’s municipal body said they have received confirmation that a baby boy was born in May in a northern city suburb to Khan, 47, and his wife Gauri.

“Andheri hospital has informed the BMC health authorities that a boy was born on May 27, 2013,” said Vijay Khabale Patil, a spokesman for the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). “The father’s name was Shah Rukh Khan and the mother was Gauri Khan,” he said.

The Khans, already parents to a teenage son and daughter, have made no announcements on the matter but it is standard procedure for hospitals to give details of births in the city to the BMC.

The baby is widely reported to have been born by surrogacy, an arrangement in which a woman carries the child of another couple. Back in 2011, fellow Bollywood megastar Aamir Khan and his wife also had a baby boy using a surrogate mother.

The news that the birth was as far back as May means the child was born before rumours surfaced in the media that the Khans were expecting a boy, raising suspicions of an illegal sex test on the foetus. On seeing the reports, the Indian Radiological and Imaging Association wrote to the health officials demanding an investigation.

India bans sex tests because of a preference for sons in the country. Female foeticide has led to a major population imbalance between the sexes.

Khan, star of Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge and My Name Is Khan, topped the first Forbes India Celebrity 100 list earlier this year with annual estimated earnings of $37.7 million.

Agence France Presse