In Wankhede affidavit, SRK ‘texts’ reveal his angst on son’s arrest

An affidavit filed by former Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) zonal director Sameer Wankhede in the Bombay high court on Friday appended a string of purported chat transcripts between the officer and actor Shah Rukh Khan. While Wankhede told the court that there was nothing amiss in his investigation into the Cordelia drugs bust case and that the alleged chats – which HT could not independently verify -- support his stand, the exchanges gave a glimpse of the turmoil and anguish of the superstar over the arrest and imprisonment of his teenage son who was later found innocent.

Also read: 10 emotional pleas made by Shah Rukh Khan to Sameer Wankhede in his chats: ‘Get your guys to go slow for God’s sake'

Transcripts of the alleged conversation furnished by Wankhede – who is accused of demanding a bribe from Shah Rukh Khan to drop his son Aryan’s name from the case linked to a drugs raid on a cruise ship – to the court ranged from October 3, 2021 to October 15, 2021. To be sure, it was unclear if the chats (if correct), were a complete transcript of their conversations or an edited version put forward by the defence team.

The affidavit said that Shah Rukh Khan sent the first message to Wankhede at 10.55am on October 3, 2021 -- the day his son was arrested -- requesting an audience with the officer. Wankhede responded to the purported message at 5:34pm asking for a call. Subsequently, Shah Rukh Khan allegedly thanked him for his “thoughts and personal insights”.

“I will make sure that he turns out to be someone that you and I are both proud of. This incident will prove to be a turning point in his life I promise, in a good way,” Shah Rukh Khan allegedly added.

In successive messages over the next few days, the actor allegedly displayed his “highest regard” for Wankhede’s “uprightness” to which the officer purportedly responded, saying Aryan “has been a good kid all the while and hope that he will for sure now be reformed”.

On October 13, the affidavit said Shah Rukh Khan allegedly begged for kindness as a father, to which Wankhede ostensibly expressed: “I wish I could talk to you as a friend and explain (to) you about the current situation and not as a zonal director, all the murk and unscrupulous elements are vitiating the entire atmosphere.”

Shah Rukh Khan allegedly insisted that his son was not a part of that world. “You also know that. You know his part is minuscule in it,” he said, stressing on the need for a corrective course and that Aryan “has had his quota”.

“Please man I beg you there is nothing from my side that is participant in the vested interests (sic). I went out of my way and without even knowing them called and begged them not to involve my child in their politics…I beg you man please,” the actor allegedly added.

Touching upon his own middle-class upbringing, Shah Rukh Khan allegedly emphasised that they were a simple set of people “and my son has been a bit wayward but he doesn’t deserve being in a jail like a hardened criminal. Please have heart man”.

The affidavit said that the actor added that as a father and a family man, he was trying to do his best within the bounds of law. “It’s a father to father request. I love my children, as you do yours, and exterior forces cannot be allowed to cloud a father to father feeling,” the affidavit quoted Shah Rukh Khan as saying.

Also read: Sameer Wankhede owns 4 flats in Mumbai, made 6 foreign trips in 5 years: Reports

On October 14, Wankhede allegedly expressed unhappiness with reference to “recent developments” in the case. He said that “there are certain technical ties in the law”, and asked the actor to “just have patience as this is going to be over soon”.

“This will break him as a human being. His spirit will be destroyed,” responded Shah Rukh Khan, according to the transcripts.

Wankhede was shunted out of NCB last year and the government ordered a probe against him after a vigilance enquiry found major discrepancies in the Cordelia raid. Aryan was among 20 people who were arrested after the dramatic raid on the cruise ship on October 2 that year. While the NCB team alleged that Aryan was a part of a larger international drugs conspiracy, a secondary probe by a special investigation team in May 2022 said the actor’s son was “innocent” and was not carrying any drugs on the ship.