Asian employee superimposed on to bin Laden cave picture sues company

A man whose face was superimposed on a picture of Osama bin Laden sitting in a cave is suing his former employer for £50,000.

Vinod Rajdev claims that colleagues at software provider Civica routinely taunted him and joked that he was an al-Qaeda terrorist "mastermind".

The IT manager said his work associates manipulated a photograph of bin Laden, putting his face over that of the terror chief's deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri.



Mr Rajdev, 58, alleges that he found two mock-up photographs – one framed – on his desk showing him sitting next to bin Laden in a hideout with an AK47 rifle by his side. He also says he was called "Paki" and "corner shop" by colleagues.

Mr Rajdev, who is of Indian origin, is claiming constructive unfair dismissal, religious and race discrimination against Civica. Civica, which supplies software to 90 per cent of Britain's local authorities, denies his claims.

It has said that the photograph was part of office "banter" and that Mr Rajdev had joined in jokes that he was an al-Qaeda leader.