The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has registered a case against IRS officer Sameer Wankhede and four others for demanding Rs 25 crore bribe in exchange of not naming Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan Khan in the cruise ship drug case. Reportedly, the former Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) officer had sought the bribe from Shah Rukh Khan to keep his son out of the case.
However, a report by Mint said that Sameer Wankhede had sought Rs 25 crore from the owners of Cordelia ship, where a drug party was busted by NCB in 2021.
The investigation agency is also conducted raids at Sameer Wankhede’s residence and other places in connection with the bribery case. The CBI conducted searches at his 29 premises in Mumbai, Delhi and Kanpur, amongst others in this regard. The CBI further alleged that Wankhede, two former NCB officials, and some private workers had already collected Rs 50 lakh of the demanded Rs 25 crore bribe.
Sameer Wankhede was the Mumbai zonal chief of the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), when he and others raided the Cordelia cruise ship at the Mumbai International Cruise Terminal in October 2021. Aryan Khan was arrested in the alleged drug bust case on the ship on October 2, 2021.
Charges of drug possession, consumption, and trafficking were slapped against Aryan Khan. His friend Arbaaz Merchant and cruise guest Munmun Dhamecha were among the others arrested. Aryan was booked for attempting consumption of drugs under Section 27, attempting an offence under Section 8 (c) (possession), Section 28 (abetment) and Section 29 (conspiracy).
However, he was granted bail by the Bombay High Court and was released after spending 22 days in jail. No drug was found on him, and later NCB gave him a clean chit due to lack of sufficient evidence.
While granting bail, the Bombay High Court said that WhatsApp chats found in Aryan’s mobile disclosed “nothing objectionable”, nor was there any evidence to show that Merchant, Dhamecha or others had hatched any conspiracy to commit drug offences.
Wankhede faced several allegations of irregularities and corruption during his tenure at NCB, following which he was transferred and an internal inquiry was ordered for a few of his controversial cases. The NCB’s SIT (Special Investigation Team) that had re-examined the Aryan Khan case, and gave clean chits to 6 out of the 14 accused, including Aryan Khan.
