Aryan Khan case: CBI likely to summon Sameer Wankhede to join probe
Darpan News Desk IANS, 12 May, 2023 11:42 AM
New Delhi, May 12 (IANS) The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) said that they have registered a case against the then Mumbai zonal chief of NCB, Sameer Wankhede, and four others for allegedly demanding Rs 25 crore bribe from the family of Aryan Khan, the son of actor Shah Rukh Khan, in the alleged drugs-on-cruise case.
The case has also been lodged against Vishwa Vijay Singh, the then Superintendent, NCB; Ashish Ranjan, the then Intelligence Officer; two private persons KP Gosavi and Sanbile D'Souza and unknown others.
The CBI officials on condition of anonymity said that Rs 50 lakh was even paid by Khan's family to save him in the drug case. He said that in coming days, they will summon Wankhede to join the probe and get his statement recorded.
The CBI said that the instant case was registered under Prevention of Corruption Act and relevant Sections of the IPC following a complaint from Narcotics Control Bureau's Vigilance Department.
The CBI official said that the officials of the NCB (Mumbai Zone), in order to obtain undue advantage from few persons in a drug case entered into criminal conspiracy and had allegedly obtained undue advantage in the form of bribes from the alleged accused.
An information was received in the Mumbai Zone of NCB during October, 2021 related to consumption and possession of narcotics substances by various individuals on Cordelia cruise.
Aryan Khan was on board Cordelia cruise, when the NCB officials conducted raids.
The NCB officials allegedly entered into conspiracy in order to extort an amount of Rs 25 crore from the family members of Aryan Khan by threatening them of the accusation of offences of possession of narcotics substances, as per the alleged directions of Wankhede.
The CBI official said that a token amount of Rs 50 lakh as bribe was allegedly obtained in furtherance of this conspiracy by the said persons.
The official said that searches were being conducted at 29 locations across Mumbai, Delhi, Ranchi, Lucknow, Chennai and Guwahati. During the searches, a number of incriminating documents, cash have been seized. In Mumbai, raids are on in Andheri and others premises of Wankhede.
IANS made several attempts to reach out to Wankhede, who is currently posted in Chennai's Income Tax department, for his comments on the matter, but he was not available.
The gold biscuits were being smuggled from Manipur to the national capital via Guwahati. On Tuesday, 320 gm gold was seized by the railway police from the same railway station.
The police have arrested six persons in this connection, out of whom two are residents of Liluah in Howrah district, two are from Maharashtra and one from Gujarat. The police suspect that besides running the fake call centre, the arrested persons were also involved in illegal hawala transactions.
A forensic science lab team also reached the spot and inspected the suitcase and the spot where the body was found. The hands and the feet of the victim were tied with a rope, a police officer said, not ruling out the possibility of foul play in the case.
The officials said that some dreaded criminals were lodged in the same ward, adding that Sisodia has not raised any complaint in food or other things so far. Sisodia, who was arrested on February 26 in the Delhi excise policy case, was lodged in the cell on Monday after due formalities which included some medical tests.
Special public prosecutor (SPP) Amit Prasad argued the charges against Poonawala. It was submitted that the accused is a trained chef from Taj Hotel and is aware of preserving the flesh. Poonawala had also ordered dry ice, agarbatti etc. after killing Shraddha Walker, the police said.
Carrying placards, father Balkaur Singh and mother Charan Kaur told the media it has been almost a year of the crime occurrence and the main culprits have not been arrested.They demanded that the case should be investigated by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) as crucial witnesses "are being eliminated and nothing is going in their favour."
