Former Mumbai NCB chief Sameer Wankhede was questioned for more than five hours on Sunday by the CBI, which is investigating an alleged Rs 25 crore bribe demand from actor Shah Rukh Khan for not implicating his son Aryan in the Cordelia cruise ‘drug bust’ case, news agency PTI reported citing an official.
Wankhede, an Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer, arrived at the CBI office in the Bandra-Kurla Complex at around 10.30 AM, the official said. Wankhede told reporters as he entered the office that he has “faith in the judiciary”.
He was given a lunch break during questioning, according to the official, who added that Wankhede left the CBI office for the day around 4.30 PM. Wankhede did not respond to questions from reporters waiting outside the CBI office, instead saying, “Satyamev Jayate” (truth always triumphs).
Wankhede was also questioned by the CBI for more than five hours on Saturday. Wankhede and his family members visited the Siddhivinayak temple in Prabhadevi, Mumbai, after leaving the CBI office around 4.30 PM on Saturday.
On the basis of a complaint from the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), the central agency arrested Wankhede and four others on May 11 for alleged criminal conspiracy and extortion threats, as well as bribery provisions under the Prevention of Corruption Act.
The Bombay High Court granted Wankhede relief on Friday, ordering the CBI not to take any “coercive action” against him until May 22.
Wankhede claimed in court that the “draft complaint” in the 2021 drugs-on-cruise case named Aryan Khan as an accused, but it was later replaced and Aryan’s name was dropped.
The NCB arrested Aryan Khan on October 3, 2021, following an alleged drug seizure on the Cordelia cruise ship here. Three weeks later, the high court granted him bail after the anti-drug agency failed to substantiate its charges against him.
The CBI claimed that the NCB’s Mumbai zone received information in October 2021 about various individuals on the cruise ship consuming and possessing narcotic substances and that some NCB officers conspired to get bribes from the accused in exchange for letting them go.
Wankhede had denied the allegations levelled against him. His HC petition included transcriptions of phone conversations with Shah Rukh Khan while Aryan was in NCB custody. According to the report, Khan pleaded with Wankhede to be kind to his son and praised the officer for his “uprightness”.