The Enforcement Directorate has booked former NCB Zonal Director of Mumbai Sameer Wankhede in connection with a money laundering case. The report stems from the allegations that Wankhede demanded a Rs 25 crore bribe from Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan to spare his son in a drug bust case.
Wankhede has been booked under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), PTI reported quoting official sources on Saturday.
Apart from Wankhede, some former Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) officials have also been summoned in the matter.
Meanwhile, Wankhede, an Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer of the Customs and Indirect Taxes cadre, has moved the Bombay High Court seeking protection from any coercive action by the ED.
In May last year, Wankhede was booked by the CBI on charges of seeking a Rs 25-crore bribe for not framing Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan Khan in the drugs-on-cruise case, officials said.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) booked Wankhede and others for alleged criminal conspiracy (120-B IPC), and threat of extortion (388 IPC) besides provisions about bribery under the Prevention of Corruption Act on a complaint from the NCB
Aryan Khan, son of Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan, was arrested in connection with the Mumbai cruise drugs case in October 2021
A year later, the NCB filed a charge sheet in the drugs-on-cruise case against 14 accused but gave a clean chit to Aryan Khan.
The much-hyped case took a twist when an ’independent witness’ had claimed in 2021 that Rs 25 crore was demanded by an NCB official and other persons, including a witness Gosavi, to let off Aryan Khan.
The NCB later conducted an internal vigilance probe against Wankhede and others and shared the contents with the CBI leading to the registration of a case against him
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