Cruise drug bust case: CBI seeks recall of protection to Sameer Wankhede

The CBI in its affidavit to the petition filed by the IRS officer stated that the investigation has been undertaken based on a written complaint filed by NCB.

MUMBAI: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has sought that the Bombay high court order granting interim protection to former NCB Mumbai zonal director Sameer Wankhede in the alleged ₹25-crore bribery case in connection with the arrest of Aryan Khan, son of actor Shah Rukh Khan, be recalled.

The HC on May 22 had extended interim protection to Wankhede till June 8. (ANI)

Read here: ‘Caught in spat between Wankhede, NCB dy DG’

The agency, while seeking to recall the protection against coercive action granted to Wankhede by the vacation bench of the HC on May 22, stated that the protection can derail the probe.

The CBI in its affidavit to the petition filed by the IRS officer stated that the investigation has been undertaken based on a written complaint filed by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), Delhi.

The investigating agency also stated that as per the Supreme Court directions, if they find that the complaint is false, as claimed by Wankhede, action can be initiated against the complainant.

“The allegations mentioned in the FIR are very serious and sensitive in nature pertaining to the acts of corruption, criminal conspiracy and extortion by threat by the FIR named, the then public servants of NCB and private persons. The written complaint received from NCB discloses the commission of cognizable offences, hence the instant case has been registered and taken up for investigation by CBI. It is further submitted that the allegations as mentioned in the FIR are being investigated and the investigation in this case is at initial stages,” the CBI affidavit read.

The Central agency has said that it has a “prima facie case” and grant of interim relief as prayed for by Wankhede “would adversely affect the ongoing investigation in the present case”. Therefore, it sought recalling of interim relief granted to Wankhede and sought dismissal of his petition as “devoid of merit”.

The CBI has filed an FIR against Wankhede, Vishwa Vijay Singh, then NCB superintendent, and Ashish Ranjan, then intelligence officer of the NCB’s Mumbai zonal unit, as well as private individuals Kiran P Gosavi and Sanville D’Souza for allegedly trying to extort ₹25 crore from the actor for not booking his son Aryan Khan in the Cordellia cruise drugs bust in October 2021.

The complaint was based on a report by the special Enquiry Team (SET) of the NCB, set up on October 25, 2021, three weeks after Aryan Khan and four others were arrested for allegedly possessing drugs before boarding the cruise ship from the Green Gate terminal on October 2, 2021.

Dismissing the charges, Wankhede had stated in his petition that the CBI action was result of a “vendetta” on the part of a few NCB officials.

Read here: Cordelia cruise drugs bust case: NCB says sanction for probe granted within stipulated time

The HC on May 22 had extended interim protection to Wankhede till June 8 and had directed the CBI to file its reply to Wankhede’s petition which sought quashing of the CBIs FIR against him. The bench had then directed Wankhede to give an undertaking that he would not talk to the media about the case.

The petition will come up for hearing before the bench of justice A S Gadkari on Thursday.