Mumbai, Nov 8 (IANS): While #Boycott_KBC_SonyTv trended on Twitter, supporters of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) gathered outside the Sony channel office in Mumbai's Malad area on Friday to stage protest against "Kaun Banega Crorepati" and Sony TV, the channel airing the popular quiz show.

A section of KBC viewers is upset over Maratha ruler Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj being addressed simply as Shivaji in a recent episode.

Staging protest on Friday afternoon, NCP workers demanded an apology from the channel authorities regarding the same. The protesters also took a dig at show's iconic host Amitabh Bachchan and raised slogans like "Amitabh Bachchan murdabaad".

However, according to a tweet by NCP chief spokesperson Nawab Malik, the channel authorities have submitted a written apology to them.

With the controversy gathering ground, Sony channel authorities had actually admitted their mistake earlier. During Thursday evening's episode of the show, a ticker was run on the screen, which read:" "There was an inaccurate reference to Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj during yesterday's episode, due to inadvertence. We deeply regret the same."

The controversy started when, in a recent episode, show host Bachchan asked this question to a contestant: "Which of these rulers was the contemporary of Mughal emperor Aurangzeb?" Options given for the right answer, as displayed on the screen, were: " A) Maharana Pratap B) Rana Sanga C) Maharaja Ranjit Singh D) Shivaji."

While asking this question, Amitabh Bachchan mentioned Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj just as Shivaji. This led to disappointment among viewers who alleged disrespect has been shown towards the great Maratha ruler Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj.