Indian-born novelist Sir Salman Rushdie, whose book Satanic Verses inflamed the Islamic world, regularly demanded money from British detectives who protected him, according to a former protection officer.
Ex-special branch detective Ron Evans, who guarded Sir Salman for three years at the height of the threats on his life generated by a fatwa issued by the Iranian Ayatollah, has claimed this in his autobiography On Her Majesty's Service.
In his recently released book, Evans has said that the protection team were expected to pay the controversial British author rent for their sparse lodgings at a safe house, The Daily Telegraph reported.
In fact, according to him, the protection team used to pay Sir Salman 10 pounds for every night as lodging allowance, but were reimbursed 25 pounds by the taxpayer and also given an extra 16 pounds food expense.
"I shook my head which felt like it was about to explode. We were paying or, rather, the taxpayer was paying Rushdie to protect him!" he wrote in his book.
For his own safety, Rushdie was confined to house arrest at Wimbledon in south-west London. Friends were banned from visiting him and all visitors viewed with suspicion.
In his book, Evans has mentioned about a strange incident when the protection officers were confined to their rooms so that Sir Salman could spent an intimate evening with girlfriend and later third wife Elizabeth West.
He has also painted an unflattering picture of the writer in the book calling him tight-fisted, arrogant, rude and a person who is not at all generous.
One night, Evans said, he and two colleagues had a few bottles of red wine and went looking for more. They found "a few dozen" bottles of French wine and an officer was sent to ask Sir Salman if they could buy some.
"He returned a few minutes later. He says it'll cost us 45 pounds a bottle. Joe (codename) wanted corkage! Clearly, he was not a generous man," he wrote.
Due to his unkempt appearance, the protection team nicknamed him Scruffy.
In fact, of the evening out at the pub, he said: "The original team with Scruffy 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."
