Won’t arrest Sameer Wankhede before February 20, ED tells HC

Sameer Wankhede, former Mumbai zonal director of the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), would not be arrested in connection with a money laundering case till February 20, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) told the Bombay high court on Thursday.

The ED’s case, registered in July 2023, is based on an FIR by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on May 11 that year. The FIR alleged that Wankhede and some other persons had tried to extort ₹25 crore from actor Shah Rukh Khan in exchange for not booking his son, Aryan, in the Cordelia cruise ship drugs bust case in 2021.

Wankhede, an Indian Revenue Service officer, on February 6 approached the high court seeking directions to quash the ED’s case against him and requesting protection from coercive action. He claimed that the case against him was motivated by malice and vendetta.

Advocate Sandesh Patil, representing the ED, suggested that Wankhede should approach the Delhi high court as the Enforcement Case Information Report, equivalent to FIR, had been transferred to the agency’s Delhi office.

However, Wankhede’s counsel, Aabad Ponda, argued that he had been directed by the Delhi HC to approach the Mumbai HC about the CBI’s corruption and extortion case, which is the basis of the ED’s probe.

A division bench comprising justices PD Naik and NR Borkar postponed the hearing to February 20 (Tuesday) due to time constraints on Thursday and Friday while the court would not be in session on Monday.

Emphasised the need for a thorough hearing, the bench wanted to know from Patil whether Wankhede would be arrested before the next date. Patil, after consulting relevant officials, assured the court that no coercive action would be taken against him till then.

Aryan Khan was arrested in October 2021 but later received a clean chit from the NCB. The NCB’s internal vigilance probe, initiated following allegations of bribery against Wankhede and others, led to the registration of a case against Wankhede by the CBI.