Aryan Khan case: IRS officer Sameer Wankhede arrested for allegedly accepting bribe of Rs 25 crore

New Delhi: The CBI on Friday conducted searches at the premises of former NCB officer Sameer Wankhede after filing an FIR against him and four others for allegedly seeking Rs 25 crore bribe for not framing Shah Rukh Khan's son Aryan Khan in the drugs-on-cruise case, officials said.

Aryan Khan was arrested in an alleged drug bust case on the Cordelia cruise ship on October 2, 2021, they said.

The NCB, which had filed a charge-sheet in the drugs-on-cruise case, gave a clean chit to Aryan Khan, while an SIT set up by the anti-drugs agency claimed the probe led by Wankhede had lapses.

They said the searches were spread across 29 locations across Mumbai, Delhi, Ranchi and Kanpur.

It is alleged that IRS officer Wankhede and others had allegedly demanded Rs 25 crore bribe for not framing Aryan Khan in the alleged drug bust, they said.

The CBI received information that Rs 50 lakh was allegedly collected by the officer and his accomplice as advance, the officials said.

Wankhede, who headed the Narcotics Control Bureau in Mumbai at the time of Aryan Khan's arrest, was transferred to the Directorate General of Taxpayer Services in Chennai in May last year.

Background:

The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) has sacked its superintendent Vishwa Vijay Singh, who was part of a team that raided Cordelia cruise and arrested actor Shah Rukh Khan's son Aryan Khan in 2021, for misconduct in another matter in which he was suspended earlier, officials said.

The order about the termination of services of Singh was issued last month, an official said on Tuesday.

Singh was part of the team which raided the Cordelia cruise and arrested Aryan Khan and others in the 'drugs-on-cruise' case in October 2021.

"Vishwa Vijay Singh was removed from NCB's service in another case in which he was suspended last year and an inquiry was going on against him," the official said.

He said the NCB found certain issues of misconduct during the inquiry, following which a decision was taken to remove Singh from service.

In October 2021, Aryan Khan and others were arrested after a team led by NCB's then-Mumbai zonal director Sameer Wankhede raided Cordelia cruise at the Mumbai International Cruise Terminal.

Initially, charges of drug possession, consumption, and trafficking were applied in the case.

Aryan Khan, who had spent 22 days in jail, was given a clean chit by NCB in May 2022 due to "lack of sufficient evidence", officials had said.

A separate vigilance inquiry was conducted owing to allegations of high-handedness against the NCB team and Wankhede.

Departmental action was taken against seven officers in the alleged 'drugs on cruise' case. Wankhede, an IRS officer, was later transferred to the DG Taxpayer Service Directorate in Chennai, officials had said.

Inputs from PTI