The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) conducted raids on 29 premises associated with Sameer Wankhede, former zonal director of the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), along with three others.
The raids took place in Mumbai, Ranchi, and other cities. These individuals are linked to Aryan Khan, son of actor Shah Rukh Khan, who was arrested in connection with a party on the Cordelia cruise ship off the coast of Mumbai. During the NCB team's investigation, they allegedly discovered 13 grams of cocaine, five grams of mephedrone, 21 grams of marijuana, 22 Ecstasy pills, and ₹1.33 lakhs in cash.
Demand of ₹25 crores from Shah Rukh Khan
The allegation against the NCB officer is that they demanded ₹25 crores from Shah Rukh Khan, although Wankhede denied these claims. It is worth noting that Khan himself did not confirm the alleged bribe demand. Many are surprised by the CBI's involvement in the matter after a span of 18 months. Aryan Khan was arrested on October 2, 2021, and at that time, there were allegations that a witness named K.P. Gosavi had demanded a bribe of ₹25 crore from Shah Rukh Khan on behalf of Wankhede. A bodyguard of Gosavi even provided an affidavit confirming the bribe demand. Nawab Malik of the NCP had also made similar allegations against the former western zone director of the NCB. Wankhede, however, refuted these allegations.
NCB's vigilance inquiry
Those close to him pointed out that Malik was upset because Wankhede had arrested a close relative of the leader. The NCB headquarters initiated a vigilance inquiry in which seven officials were accused of misconduct. It appears that proper legal procedures were not followed in the Aryan Khan case.
The action taken against Wankhede was unexpected, as he had recently aligned himself with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). He had even visited the RSS headquarters in Nagpur and attended various functions related to Veer Savarkar and others. There were indications that he was considering quitting his job and joining the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The Aryan Khan case sparked a major controversy, with Nawab Malik of the NCP and others criticizing Wankhede for allegedly having hidden motives.
