Mohali: A Chandigarh-based NGO on Saturday filed a criminal complaint against Indian Premier League franchise Kings XI Punjab for using photographs of some freedom fighters in their advertisement.

The NGO Global Human Rights Council (GHRC), has raised serious objection to the advertisement and filed the complaint with Mohali police chief Gurpreet Singh Bhullar.

"They (KXIP) have hurt the feelings of lakhs of Indians by using the images of our freedom fighters to promote their franchise team that is totally driven with profits.

"These freedom fighters are not at all related to the game of cricket and it is totally intolerable," said GHRC president Arvind Thakur.

Thakur said that they have filed a criminal complaint against franchise co-owners Preity Zinta, Ness Wadia and other management staff.

Meanwhile, the KXIP apologised to the people for the incident and promised to drop the advertisement immediately.

"Kings XI Punjab is a people driven franchise and is sensitive to the sentiments of its community. We have been made to understand that our recent advertisement portraying known leaders from the past have hurt certain segments of the community," Preity said.

"Therefore we apologise to the people if their sentiments have been hurt and the advertisement will be recalled with an immediate effect," she added.