A special court on Monday junked a plea of the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) urging it to not take cognizance of an affidavit filed by an alleged witness during the drug raid carried out on a cruise on October 1, after which actor Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan Khan was arrested.
The court said, “no blanket orders can be passed and disposed of the application filed by Sameer Wankhede, Zonal Director of NCB before the special court assigned under the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act against the affidavit filed by Prabhakar Sail”.
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The NCB sought directions that no action or cognizance be taken on Mr. Sail’s notarised affidavit. Mr. Wankhede says that the only justification seems to be the arrest of the leader’s (Cabinet Minister Nawab Malik’s) son–in-law in an NDPS case and his subsequent release on bail.
On October 24, Mr. Sail, in statement to the media, alleged that ₹ 25 crore was demanded by an NCB official, including absconding witness K.P. Gosavi, to let go Mr. Khan in the case. He told the media that he overheard Mr. Gosavi telling one Sam D’Souza over the phone, after Mr. Khan was brought to the NCB office following the October 2 raid, about a demand of ₹ 25 crore and to settle at ₹18 crore as they have to give ₹ 8 crore to Mr. Wankhede. Mr. Salil had said he would soon release evidence to support his claim.
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On October 24, Mr. Wankhede wrote to Mumbai Police Commissioner Hemant Nagrale, seeking protection from likely legal action being planned against him by unknown persons to falsely frame him concerning an alleged vigilance related issue.