Sameer Wankhede corruption case: The Bombay High Court today (May 19) directed the CBI not to take any coercive action, such as arrest, against former Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) zonal director Sameer Wankhede who is accused of demanding Rs 25 crore bribe from actor Shah Rukh Khan for not implicating his son Aryan Khan in the Cordelia cruise drug bust case.
Wankhede, an Indian Revenue Service (IRS) official, has moved the court with a petition seeking to quash the First Information Report (FIR) registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) against him.
A vacation bench of the court passed the order after recording Wankhede's undertaking that he will remain present at the CBI's office in BKC area in Mumbai at 11:00 am on May 20 (Saturday).
The CBI shall not take any coercive action against Wankhede till May 22 (Monday), Bombay High Court said.
WHAT HAPPENED SO FAR IN BRIBERY CASE: DETAILS
Wankhede moved to Bombay HC with petition:
Earlier, former Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) zonal director Sameer Wankhede on Friday moved a petition before the Bombay High Court seeking quashing of an FIR filed against him by the CBI for allegedly demanding Rs 25 crore bribe from superstar Shah Rukh Khan for not implicating his son Aryan Khan in the Cordelia cruise drug bust case.
In the petition moved before a vacation bench of the high court, Wankhede also sought that no coercive action related to the Central Bureau of Investigation's (CBI) first information report (FIR) be taken against him. The CBI filed the FIR against Wankhede and four others recently.
When Shah Rukh Khan's son Aryan Khan was nabbed by NCB?
Aryan Khan was arrested by the NCB on October 3, 2021 after a raid on the Cordelia cruise ship. He was granted bail by the Bombay High Court after three weeks as the anti-drug agency failed to substantiate its charges against him. The CBI booked Wankhede and others for alleged criminal conspiracy and threat of extortion, besides under provisions pertaining to bribery under the Prevention of Corruption Act on a complaint by the NCB.
The probe agency has alleged that the NCB, Mumbai Zone, had received information in October 2021 related to the consumption and possession of narcotics substances by various individuals on the private cruise ship and that some of its officers conspired and obtained undue advantage in the form of bribes from the alleged accused.
Delhi High Court coercive action to Wankhede:
The Delhi High Court on Wednesday (May 17) granted protection from coercive action to Wankhede for five days with the liberty to approach the appropriate forum, which would be the Bombay High Court. The CBI summoned Wankhede for questioning in Mumbai on Thursday in connection with the case, but he did not appear before the agency's team.
Wankhede accuses senior NCB official of humiliating him over caste:
Former Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) Mumbai zonal director Sameer Wankhede has alleged that then Deputy Director of the NCB Gyaneshwar Singh humiliated and harassed him during an inquiry as Wankhede belongs to a backward community.
The CBI had summoned Wankhede for questioning in Mumbai on Thursday in connection with alleged demand of Rs 25 crore from superstar Shah Rukh Khan for not implicating his son Aryan Khan in the Cordelia cruise drug bust case, but Wankhede did not appear before the agency's team.
Talking to media over phone on Thursday (May 18), the Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer said he had complained against the treatment meted out to him to the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT), the National Commission for Scheduled Castes as well as the Mumbai Police.
Wankhede has been named in a first information report (FIR) filed by the CBI along with four others in connection with the cruise drug bust case. The FIR is based on the report of the then Deputy Director of NCB Gyaneshwar Singh, who headed a Special Enquiry Team (SET).
"The FIR was registered against me only because I had lodged a complaint against Singh with the National Commission for Scheduled Castes," said Wankhede. "I had filed a complaint with the SC Commission in Delhi, seeking an FIR against Singh for using abusive language against me as I was from a backward community," he said.
According to him, he had approached the CAT against the report prepared by Singh. He had also approached the Goregaon Police Station in Mumbai in August 2022 seeking an FIR against Singh under the SC-ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, he said.
No FIR has been registered in this case, though. Singh used the CBI against him to help Aryan Khan get off the hook in the drug case, Wankhede alleged.
He also claimed that he had always kept his superiors in the loop about investigation into the alleged drug seizure from Cordelia, and put Aryan Khan under custody only on their instructions. Gyaneshwar Singh did not respond to the calls and messages for obtaining his reaction.
(With agencies inputs)
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