The former Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) zonal director Sameer Wankhede allegedly tried to extort Rs 25 crore from Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan’s family to let off his son Aryan Khan in connection with the Cordelia Cruise Drugs Case, according to the Special Enquiry Team (SET) report.
The CBI also filed an FIR against Wankhede and his two former juniors of NCB Mumbai zone.
According to the report, Wankhede and his juniors violated the rules while dealing with the drug bust case. There is information that the names of Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan Khan and his friend Arbaaz Merchant were added to the list of accused in the last minute, while dropping the names of some other suspects were dropped from the case.
Several witnesses interrogated by the SET informed the sleuths that their valuables as well as those of other suspects were taken away by NCB officers without documentation.
The report also mentioned that after examining the ‘panchnama’ and other documents, it found that neither were the phones of the suspects seized, nor was there a separate seizure memo. There were no formal documents made for seizure of the phones. In the absence of a seizure memo, the seized phones from the suspects cannot be the vital evidence.
It was also found that despite one of the accused Arbaaz Merchant revealing the name of one Siddarth Shah as the supplier of ‘charas’ to him, the NCB officer let him walk free and this can make things complicated for Wankhede.
The investigation agency examined Shah and he was allowed to walk free, even when the SET found that his phone chats on both WhatsApp and Telegram clearly indicated that he was consuming drugs.
The SET report also raised doubts about Wankhede’s foreign trips and expenditure on his luxury watches.
In five years, from 2017 to 2021, Wankhede made six private foreign visits with his family to countries like UK, Ireland, Portugal, South Africa and Maldives. His foreign trips spanned over 55 days of foreign stay with a declared amount of only Rs 8.75 lakh, which is barely enough to cover the cost of air travel.
Also, the report mentioned that Wankhede and his friend Viral Jamaluddin stayed in Taj Exotica Maldives Beach suits with their families and maid in July 2021 on credit basis/cash payment (about Rs 7.5 lakh for Wankhede’s family). They paid the amount to the hotel only on December 18, 2021 through Jamaluddin’s credit card when the SET began the enquiry.
The SET has also questioned Wankhede’s purchase of a luxurious Rolex Gold watch worth Rs 22,05,000 for only Rs 17,40,000 on credit from Jamaluddin.
The investigation team has also raised several questions on Wankhede’s Mumbai and Washim properties and also analysed the IT return documents of the ex-NCB zonal director and his wife.
Based on this report, the CBI had filed an FIR against Wankhede and he was summoned for questioning but he approached the Delhi High Court obtained interim relief from any coercive action by the agency.
However, the CBI raised a preliminary objection regarding jurisdiction before the Delhi High Court and said that even though it had registered the case in Delhi, everything has been forwarded to Mumbai and, therefore, Wankhede should have approached the appropriate forum in Mumbai.
Wankhede has also sought the Bombay High Court to direct for quashing the CBI FIR against him.
