A hearing was held in the Bombay High Court regarding the plea to quash (cancel) the FIR filed against Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) official Sameer Wankhede.
This case pertains to allegations accusing Wankhede of demanding a bribe from superstar Shah Rukh Khan. Sameer Wankhede has categorically denied all these allegations.
Mumbai: Sameer Wankhede, the former Zonal Director of NCB Mumbai, stated in the Bombay High Court on Monday that he neither demanded nor accepted any bribe from actor Shah Rukh Khan following the arrest of his son, Aryan Khan, in the cruise drugs case.
Wankhede’s counsel, Abad Ponda, was arguing on behalf of the Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer in a petition seeking to quash the FIR registered against him by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in May 2023, which leveled charges of corruption and bribery.
Ponda submitted to the bench—comprising Chief Justice Shri Chandrashekhar and Justice Suman Shyam—that Wankhede never demanded, nor did he accept, any bribe from Shah Rukh Khan.
According to the CBI’s FIR, Wankhede and other accused individuals in the case allegedly demanded ₹25 crore from the actor in exchange for giving his son a clean chit in the drugs case.
Hearing Continues in Bombay High Court
However, Ponda informed the court that the CBI possesses no evidence to substantiate the claim that Wankhede either demanded or accepted any bribe. The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) had received intelligence regarding the alleged presence of drugs aboard the cruise ship Cordelia.
The counsel explained that a search was conducted in accordance with the law, and several individuals—including Aryan Khan—were subsequently arrested. The High Court stated that it would conduct further hearings on the petition on Tuesday.
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