Never sought bribe from Shah Rukh Khan to spare his son in drugs case: Sameer Wankhede

Sameer Wankhede speaks on SRK case

Mumbai, Mar 23 Former NCB Mumbai zonal director Sameer Wankhede told the Bombay High Court on Monday that he never demanded or took a bribe from actor Shah Rukh Khan to spare his son Aryan Khan following the latter’s arrest in a cruise drugs case.

Wankhede’s counsel, Aabad Ponda, was arguing the Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer’s plea seeking to quash the FIR registered against him in May 2023 by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on charges of corruption and bribery.

Ponda told a bench of Chief Justice Shree Chandrashekhar and Justice Suman Shyam that Wankhede never demanded or took a bribe from Shah Rukh Khan.

As per the CBI FIR, Wankhede and the other accused in the case allegedly demanded Rs 25 crore from the actor to give a clean chit to his son in the drugs case. However, Ponda told the court on Monday that the CBI has no evidence to establish that Wankhede demanded or received any bribe.

The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) had received a tip-off about alleged drugs on the cruise ship Cordelia. A search was conducted in accordance with the law and a few persons, including Aryan Khan, were arrested, the counsel added. The high court said it would continue hearing the plea further on Tuesday.

The CBI had registered the case against Wankhede and others on charges of criminal conspiracy (Indian Penal Code section 120-B), and threat of extortion (388 IPC), as well as bribery under the Prevention of Corruption Act on a complaint from the NCB. Aryan Khan was arrested in the alleged drug bust case on the Cordelia cruise ship on October 2, 2021.

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Later, the NCB filed a charge sheet in the case against 14 accused, but gave a clean chit to Aryan Khan. The much-hyped case took a twist in 2021 when an ’independent witness’ claimed that an NCB official and other persons, including a witness, demanded Rs 25 crore to let off Aryan Khan.

The NCB later conducted an internal vigilance probe against Wankhede and others and shared the contents with the CBI, leading to the registration of the case against him. Based on the CBI’s FIR, the Enforcement Directorate also registered a case against Wankhede, accusing him of money laundering.