Indian Revenue Service officer and former zonal director of Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) Sameer Wankhede has approached the Bombay High Court to quash the money laundering case registered against him by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with the 2021 Cordelia cruise ship drugs case.The ED moved against Wankhede after the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) registered a criminal case against him for allegedly demanding a bribe of ₹25 crore from Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan in exchange for not framing his son Aryan Khan in the cruise ship drugs case.Wankhede has approached the High Court through advocate Karan Lalit Jain seeking quashing of the Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) registered by ED and has sought protection from arrest till the petition is finally heard.The petition is likely to be heard on February 15 by a division bench of Justices PD Naik and NR Borkar.The drug case against Aryan Khan was initiated by the Mumbai unit of NCB after a search-seizure operation was carried out on the Mumbai-Goa cruise on October 2, 2021, which led to 20 arrests including Aryan Khan.Khan was later granted bail on October 28, 2021 and given a clean chit on May 27, 2022.Later, CBI registered FIR against Wankhede alleging offences under sections 7 (bribery), 7A (undue advantage to influence public servant by illegal means) and 12 (abetment) of the Prevention of Corruption Act along with section 120B (criminal conspiracy) and 388 (extortion) of the Indian Penal Code.Earlier, Wankhede also filed a petition seeking quashing of the CBI FIR which is pending before the High Court.The High Court had granted interim protection to him in May 2023, one of the conditions being that Wankhede should not publish any material by way of WhatsApp or any other mode in relation to the case.
TAGS: Aryan KhanNCB (Narcotics Control Bureau) Mumbai-Goa cruise Search-seizure operation
