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.
On January 31, the victim received another call from a man claiming to be from the Customs Department at the Mumbai airport. The caller further contended that to issue a yellow card to Jordan Rs 55,000 was required and the amount was transferred by the victim to a man, Robert Kang's account.
According to the charge sheet, after killing Shraddha on May 18 last year, Poonawalla locked their rented accommodation at south Delhi's Chattarpur Pahari area at about 7.45 p.m and went to a nearby hardware shop where he bought a saw, three blades, a hammer and plastic clip.
Interacting with industrialists during a session organised here, the Chief Minister said Punjabis are known world over for their hard work and entrepreneurship skill. Mann said it is the need of hour to make the state an industrial hub of the country.
Besides, five persons have been arrested and six prosecution complaints (PCs) including one supplementary PC have been filed before the Special Court, PMLA in these cases, he stsated.
A spokesperson for the Vigilance Bureau said following investigations of an enquiry a case under the Prevention of the Corruption Act has been registered against Dharamsot. Giving details, he said from March 1, 2016, to March 31, 2022, the income of the former minister and his family was Rs 2,37,12,596 while the expenditure was Rs 8,76,30,888.
The RBI has a Central Repository of Information on Large Credits (CRILC) database system where the banks report their exposure of Rs 5 crore and above which is used for monitoring purposes.
