JOIN USCBI questions Sameer Wankhede in Aryan Khan birbery case
The Central Bureau of Investigation on Saturday questioned high-profile IRS officer Sameer Wankhede in connection with the case involving seeking a bribe of Rs 25 crore vis-a-vis the Cordelia drugs-on-cruise bust case involving Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan.
Wankhede’s role as Mumbai Zonal Director of Narcotic Control Bureau has come under the scanner.
Wankhede’s statement was recorded at the CBI’s western region headquarters at the Bandra Kurla Complex in Mumbai.
NCP leader Nawab Malik, who was then a minister in the erstwhile Maha Vikas Aghadi government, had carried out a series of exposes on Wankhede and people close to him.
Wankhede, an officer of the 2008-batch IRS officer, had faced several allegations.
A total of 20 persons were arrested during the October 2-3, 2021 midnight raid and subsequent investigations. The NCB had seized 13 grams of cocaine, 5 grams of mephedrone, 21 grams of charas and 22 MDMA/Ecstasy pills during the raid on the Cordelia cruise from Mumbai to Goa.
The Bombay High Court, on 28 October, 2021, while giving bail to Aryan Khan, Arbaaz Merchant, and Munmum Dhamecha, had observed: “There is hardly any positive evidence on record to convince this court that all the accused persons with common intention agreed to commit unlawful acts.”
In May 2022, Aryan Khan was given a clean chit by the NCB saying that the evidence was “insufficient”.
After this, the NCB also carried out an internal probe into the issue vis-a-vis the allegations against Wankhede.
It may be mentioned, besides Wankhede, others booked were the then NCB-Mumbai's Superintendent, Ashish Ranjan, then NCB-Mumbai's Intelligence Officer, two private persons KP Gosavi and Sanvile D'Souza among others.