LONDON: Celebrated Indian-origin author Salman Rushdie has threatened to sue a former bodyguard for claiming in his forthcoming book that he was mean and extremely unpleasant towards policemen protecting him from assassins following the Iranian fatwa on his life in 1989.

Reacting to the claims of the Special Branch officer Ron Evans, Rushdie said that the author was "portraying me as mean, nasty, tight-fisted, arrogant and extremely unpleasant".

"In my humble opinion I am none of those things," Rushdie, who last month won the 'Best of the Booker' award told the Guardian.

In his book, Evans claimed that Rushdie was even imprisoned by his bodyguards who "got so fed up with his attitude that they locked him in a cupboard under the stairs and all went to the local pub for a pint or two.
"When they were suitably refreshed they came back and let him out."

Rushdie was forced to stay in hiding for nine years after Iranian hardline religious leader Ayatollah Khomeini declared a fatwa on his life in February 1989, claiming his novel The Satanic Verses blasphemous.

According to the book titled On Her Majesty's Service, which is due to be published next week, the police nicknamed the author 'Scruffy' because of his unkempt appearance.

"My relationship with my protection team was always cordial, certainly entirely professional. This kind of absurd behaviour never occurred. There are three references in his article to drinking on duty - it is absolutely forbidden for police officers, particularly in possession of firearms, to drink on duty. They did not do so," 
"I had a lot of sympathy and understanding from the police. Our relationship was the exact opposite of what has been written," said Rushdie of the matter.

Evens, in his book also claimed that Rushdie demanded privacy so that he could spend time with his girlfriend and added, "I tried to tell him that having us around hadn't put Scruffy off his stroke in the past."
Rushdie said a senior member of the Scotland Yard protection service telephoned him to apologise for the claims and said police force felt "humiliated and embarrassed."