The home team’s dressing room door at the Eden with warnings. On the door’s left is a notice board with Kolkata Knight Riders photographs, including that of SRK. Pictures by Santosh Ghosh

May 19: Some years ago, Niranjan Singh Virk made headlines by asking chief minister Narendra Modi to leave the precincts of the Team India dressing room as he didn’t hold a pass for that area at the Motera Stadium.

The Gujarat strongman wasn’t too pleased, but obliged. That earned Virk, a former Central Bureau of Investigation officer involved with the match-fixing probe in 2000, kudos from his employers — the International Cricket Council (ICC).

Virk is the ICC’s Anti-Corruption and Security Unit’s regional manager and has helped train the Indians recruited by the Indian Premier League (IPL) to act as anti-corruption officers.

The world body’s Code of Conduct and protocol are in operation in the IPL.

On the face of it, though, Virk got it wrong last night when he asked Kolkata Knight Riders’ owner Shah Rukh Khan — whose photograph features next to the team’s dressing room door at the Eden Gardens as part of the squad — to refrain from visiting the dressing room and the dugout area.

According to The Telegraph’s sources, Virk conveyed that during the break between innings of the Knight Riders versus Chennai Super Kings clash.

While one source maintained Virk had been somewhat offensive in his tone, another pointed out that he’d only tried to “educate” the megastar on the “dos and don’ts” of dressing room protocol.

Shah Rukh wasn’t around when the mandatory anti-corruption briefing for the teams was conducted in Bangalore, before the IPL got under way on April 18.

The interaction between Shah Rukh and Virk took place in the match officials’ chamber adjacent to the Knight Riders’ dressing room. Also present, for some time at least, were match referee Farokh Engineer and the anti-corruption officer on duty, C.P. Singh.

Engineer, for one, declined to comment.

The Knight Riders team management insisted Shah Rukh had a valid “visitor’s pass” for the area, but why was one necessary when his photograph figures among the Sourav Gangulys and the John Buchanans?

Moreover, why was he not provided with a red (all-area) accreditation card?

As strange, one of the sources maintained that a photograph on the team board outside the dressing room “didn’t guarantee” entry into the players’ domain!

That source added: “Normally, a visitor’s pass is issued on a need-basis... The computer analyst could need the help of a technician or an electrician may be required... Such passes have absolutely nothing to do with anybody’s status and stature.”

Virk, apparently, explained to Shah Rukh that he wasn’t casting any aspersion at all, but “expected” a role model like him to follow rules and regulations to the hilt. Also, that it wasn’t exactly proper for his son (Aryan) and personal bodyguard (Yasin) to follow him into the dressing room.

Whatever, that interaction upset Shah Rukh so much that (according to a member of the Knight Riders’ team management) he even contemplated walking out of the Eden.

“Shah Rukh, who goes to the extent of knocking on the dressing room door before entering, had to be pacified by people from the IPL, who apologised for what had happened... It’s only then that he went back to the dressing room and the dugout,” said that member of the team management.

The megastar didn’t say anything at the Eden, but got emotional at a function at the team hotel before flying back to Mumbai on a private jet.

“Don’t tell me I’m corrupt... I’m really disappointed (at being barred)... Nobody can stop me from coming... The CBI... ICC Code of Conduct... Anybody, anybody dare try to stop me from being at every match in Calcutta,” are excerpts from what Shah Rukh said.

Yesterday, incidentally, was Virk’s first visit to the city during the IPL. What’s intriguing is why C.P. Singh didn't have a one-on-one with Shah Rukh during the first match itself, a month back?

With the issue generating so much heat, the IPL has now decided to issue all-area passes to one member of each franchise.

Vijay Mallya (Bangalore Royal Challengers) and Preity Zinta (Kings XI Punjab) already have it.

Clearly, there are lessons which the IPL needs to learn from this inaugural edition. There are issues which need clarity and the Shah Rukh Khans, who’ve raised the level of interest in the competition truly phenomenally, shouldn’t be slighted.