CBI quizzes Sameer Wankhede for five hours in alleged bribery case

It was his first appearance before the agency after the case was registered against him, an official said

Former NCB zonal director Sameer Wankhede at CBI office for questioning in a bribery case in connection with Aryan Khan’s arrest, in Mumbai on May 20, 2023. | Photo Credit: PTI

A day after the Bombay High Court directed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to not take any “coercive action” against him till May 22, former Mumbai chief of the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) Sameer Wankhede was quizzed by the Central agency for around five hours on May 20.

The 2008 batch Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer is under investigation for allegedly demanding ₹25 crore for not framing Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan Khan in a drugs raid on a cruise vessel. 

“Satyamev Jayate (truth alone triumphs),” Mr. Wankhede said while entering the CBI office in Bandra-Kurla Complex around 10.15 a.m.

He did not speak with to media persons while leaving the office at 4.30 p.m.

The CBI booked Mr. Wankhede and four others on May 11 for alleged criminal conspiracy and threat of extortion, apart from provisions pertaining to bribery under the Prevention of Corruption Act on a complaint by the NCB, and on Saturday he appeared for the first time before the agency for questioning. Though he was summoned on Thursday, he did not appear for questioning then. 

The former Zonal Director of the NCB approached the Bombay High Court seeking the quashing of the First Information Report (FIR), alleging that the “draft complaint” in the 2021 case named Mr. Aryan Khan as an accused, but it was later replaced and the latter’s name was dropped.

In his petition, the IRS officer provided transcriptions of phone chats with Mr. Shah Rukh Khan during the period his son was in the NCB’s custody. The actor’s son was arrested on October 3, 2021 following an alleged drug seizure on board the Cordelia cruise ship off the coast of Mumbai. Three weeks later, he was granted bail by the High Court as the NCB failed to substantiate its charges against him.

“We registered an FIR against then Zonal Director of the Mumbai NCB, and four others, including private persons, and conducted searches at 29 locations in Mumbai, Delhi, Ranchi, Lucknow, Chennai and Guwahati, which led to the recovery of incriminating documents, articles, cash etc.,” CBI officials said.