ED Files Money Laundering Case Against Ex-Mumbai NCB Zonal Director Sameer Wankhede
GG News Bureau
Mumbai, 10th Feb. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has initiated a money laundering case against former Mumbai NCB zonal director Sameer Wankhede, following the Central Bureau of Investigation’s (CBI) FIR concerning an alleged demand of ₹25 crore bribe from superstar Shah Rukh Khan’s family to spare his son in a drugs case, according to official sources on Saturday.
The central agency has invoked the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in the case and summoned some former Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) officials for questioning.
Wankhede, a 2008-batch Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer of the Customs and Indirect Taxes cadre, has approached the Bombay High Court seeking protection from coercive action by the anti-money laundering agency.
In May last year, the CBI had booked Wankhede on charges of allegedly seeking a ₹25 crore bribe to avoid implicating Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan Khan in a drug-on-cruise case.
Aryan Khan was apprehended in connection with the alleged drug bust on the Cordelia cruise ship on October 2, 2021.
The CBI registered a case against Wankhede and others for alleged criminal conspiracy and extortion, along with bribery provisions under the Prevention of Corruption Act, based on a complaint from the NCB.
A year later, the NCB filed a charge sheet against 14 accused in the drug-on-cruise case but absolved Aryan Khan of any wrongdoing.
The case took a dramatic turn when an ‘independent witness’ claimed in 2021 that ₹25 crore was demanded by an NCB official and others, including a witness named Gosavi, to release Aryan Khan.
