Aryan Khan Case: Bombay HC Orders No Coercive Action Against Ex-NCB Officer Till Monday
The CBI has alleged that Wankhede demanded a Rs 25 crore bribe from superstar Shah Rukh Khan for not implicating his son Aryan Khan in the drug bust case.
The Bombay High Court on Friday ordered no coercive action against former zonal director of NCB (Mumbai) Sameer Wankhede till May 22 in a corruption case related to the Cordelia cruise drug bust. Wankhede had filed a petition seeking the quashing of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) FIR against him for allegedly demanding a Rs 25 crore bribe from superstar Shah Rukh Khan for not implicating his son Aryan Khan in the drug bust case.
The High Court, however, told Wankhede to cooperate in the investigation. The court passed the order after recording Wankhede's undertaking that he would be present at the CBI's office in BKC area in Mumbai at 11 am on May 20.
Wankhede did not appear for questioning before the CBI on Thursday in connection with the case.
According to news agency ANI, the former NCB officer, in his petition, claimed that the action in the Aryan Khan case is being taken out of revenge.
Wankhede is accused of demanding a bribe to not implicate Shah Rukh Khan's son Aryan Khan in the 2021 Cordelia cruise ship drug bust case.
The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) did not name Aryan Khan in its charge sheet in the case because of a lack of evidence against him. Wankhede had offered to appear before the agency on Thursday after an FIR was registered against him and four others for allegedly trying to extort the bribe from Shah Rukh Khan on the basis of an NCB inquiry referred to it by the home ministry, PTI reported sources as saying.
Sameer Wankhede Skips CBI Summon
PTI reported officials as saying that Wankhede did not appear for questioning on Thursday and the CBI will decide on the future course of action. The officials said a special enquiry team (SET) of the NCB had red-flagged several lapses and irregularities in the operation on the cruise ship conducted under the monitoring of Wankhede. The NCB had alleged K P Gosavi and his aide Prabhakar Sail, now deceased, were included as independent witnesses in the cruise ship raid on October 2, 2021, on the directions of Wankhede.
Aryan Khan, who was formally arrested by the NCB on October 3, 2021, after the raid on the cruise ship a day before, was granted bail by the Bombay High Court on October 28 after he had spent 25 days in jail. But his name was not included in the list of accused in the NCB charge sheet for lack of evidence.
CBI in its FIR on former Narcotic Control Bureau (NCB) officer Sameer Wankhede stated allegations of “criminal misconduct and corrupt practices” levelled against him as the Zonal Director of NCB’s Mumbai unit during the investigation of the drugs-on-cruise case.
According to the CBI FIR registered on March 11, “presence of the independent witness Sh. KP Gosavi around accused persons was created intentionally in such a manner so as to give an impression that Sh. KP Gosavi was an NCB personnel even though there were NCB personnel to handle the custody of the accused persons.”
The CBI FIR mentioned that this position “allowed KP Gosavi and his aide Sanvile D'Souza amongst others to enter into the conspiracy to extort an amount of Rs. 25 crores from the family members of the alleged 'accused', Aryan Khan by threatening them of the accusation of offences of possession of Narcotics substances.”
“This amount was finally settled for Rs. 18 Crores. A token amount of Rs. 50 Lakhs as bribe money was also taken by KP Gosavi and his aide Sanvile D'Souza but later a part of this amount of Rs. 50 Lakhs bribe money was returned back by them,” the FIR stated.
In other serious allegations, the FIR stated how Sameer Wankhede “could not sufficiently justify” acquired assets as per declared income besides not being about to “properly explain” his foreign visits and “apparently mis-declared the expenditure.”
More Details: Aryan Khan Drug Case: CBI FIR Details ‘Conspiracy’ To Extort Rs 25 Cr, ‘Corrupt Practices’ Charge Against Sameer Wankhede
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