Aryan Khan case: Ex-NCB officer Wankhede in trouble over foreign visits

Former NCB officer Sameer Wankhede, booked by the CBI over an alleged ₹25 crore bribe sought from superstar Shah Rukh Khan’s family in the Aryan Khan drugs case, is now under the scanner over his foreign visits.

A Narcotics Control Bureau’s (NCB) Special Enquiry Team had red-flagged apparently improper explanations and mis-declaration of the expenditure given by then NCB zonal director Wankhede regarding his foreign visits.

Also read: CBI books Sameer Wankhede for seeking Rs 25 cr bribe to let off Aryan Khan in drugs-on-cruise case

The findings were referred by the Centre to the CBI, which had registered an FIR against the officer and four others on May 11.

Besides not declaring the source of his foreign visits, “it was found that Wankhede has indulged himself in sale and purchase of expensive wrist watches with a private entity, Viral Rajan, without intimating the department”, stated the findings now part of the FIR.

The FIR made public on Monday show that Wankhede had ordered the inclusion of independent witness KP Gosavi and Prabhakar Sail, since deceased, in the Cordelia cruise ship drug raid on October 2, 2021.

Wankhede’s men

Gosavi, in conspiracy with his aide Sanvile DSouza and others, tried to extort Rs 25 crore from the family Aryan, son of Shah Rukh Khan, by threatening them with a case of possessing narcotics.

Gosavi and DSouza then negotiated and brought down the amount to Rs 18 crore and collected a token of Rs 50 lakh although they returned a part of it later.

Also read: Ex-NCB officer Sameer Wankhede not a Muslim by birth: Caste panel

Aryan Khan, formally arrested by the NCB on October 3, 2021, was granted bail by the Bombay High Court on October 28 after spending 25 days in jail.

But his name was not included in the list of accused in the NCB charge sheet for a lack of evidence.

Wankhede had told then NCB Superintendent VV Singh to let Gosavi “handle the accused” while taking him to the NCB office.

“It appeared that the presence of the independent witness Gosavi around accused persons was created intentionally in such a manner so as to give an impression that Gosavi was an NCB personnel even though there were NCB personnel to handle the custody of the accused,” the FIR said.

Breaching norms

Violating all norms of independent witness, Gosavi was allowed to be present in the company of the accused and even allowed to come to the NCB office after the raid.

Also read: Aryan Khan case: Govt orders action against ex-NCB officer Sameer Wankhede

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) booked IRS officer Wankhede and four others — Vishwa Vijay Singh, intelligence officer Ashish Ranjan, K P Gosavi and Sanvile DSouza — for alleged criminal conspiracy and threat of extortion.

Wankhede has since been removed as NCB Zonal Director.

(With inputs from agencies)