Click to play videoLondon: Indian-born-Nobel-winning scientist Venkatraman Ramakrishnan had claimed that he has been a victim of racism in UK.
Ramakrishnan accused British mobile phone company O2 of racism after he found it difficult to buy an iPhone.
Ramakrishnan said that he was forced to pay a three-month deposit of £325 when most applicants with good credit histories were not asked for a deposit.
"Why else would they deny me a refund? I have good credit history. It's very strange. I am not saying its racist but the problem with racism is that you can never say if its racist or its just ordinary. I am just saying that there is always a suspicion if there is no logical reason to things," said Ramakrishnan.
"I want an acknowledgment that their system is faulty and I want them to apologise. I have never heard of a person go through this. It is very absurd," he said.
Currently researching in London, Ramakrishnan has also demanded an apology through a local newspaper.
But a spokesperson for the phone company said that the discrepancy occurred only because Ramakrishnan spelt his first name as 'Venki' in the application form.
But not everyone agreed with Ramakrishnan. Another prominent Indian-origin man Lord Meghnad Desai said that the case does not merit the allegation of racism.
"This sort of things can happen to anybody. I can't see the factor of racial discrimination in this matter at all. Mobile telephones are a sensible matter and the security measures are very strict here and everybody has to face them. I am sorry that he is offended and if such things would have happened to me, I would not have been offended at all," said Desai.
But the Nobel laureate is hurt and has been feeling humiliated at the way O2 handled his case.
In its defence the company said that it was merely following standard procedure.
In a statement the company said that the fact that Venkatraman Ramakrishnan does not feature in any of the electoral roll in UK since he's an American citizen and the fact that he's never had a mobile phone in UK before, could have resulted in his poor credit file.
O2 also admitted that there was a discrepancy in the spelling or the shortening of the customer's name. He's also known as Dr. Venky Ramakrishnan and this could have meant that the company did not have access to all the information contained in his file.
Ramakrishnan won the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 2009.
(With inputs from Akansha Banerji)
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