Former Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) zonal director Sameer Wankhede allegedly made six foreign trips with his family in a span of 55 days over five years at a declared expenditure of Rs 8.75 lakh, a report filed the NCB, which has been accessed by The Indian Express.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which is probing him, based its FIR on this report. The central probe agency accused Wankhede and a few others of demanding Rs 25 crore bribe from the family of Shah Rukh Khan, threatening to “frame” the actor’s son Aryan Khan in the Cordelia Cruise drug bust case. Aryan Khan was arrested by the NCB on October 3, 2021 after a raid on the Cordelia cruise ship. He was granted bail by the Bombay High Court after three weeks as the anti-drug agency failed to substantiate its charges against him.
The probe was conducted by the Special Enquiry Team (SET) of the NCB against Wankhede. The SET was led by Deputy Director General Gyaneshwar Singh, reported India Today.
Here’s what the NCB report said about Sameer Wankhede:
-The NCB report against Wankhede said that between 2017 and 2021 he had travelled with his family to the United Kingdom, Ireland, Portugal, South Africa and Maldives. He had travelled to these places over a span of 55 days and the expenditure of Rs 8.75 lakh, did not really cover the air travel fare.
-Wankhede had travelled to London for 19 days and claimed that Rs 1 lakh was spent on the trip.
-In Maldives, Wankhede and his friend Jamaludding stayed at Taj Exotica, along with their families and domestic helps in July 2021, and the expenses were paid by credit card. He claimed the hotel expenses were paid on December 18, 2021, through his friend’s credit card which amounted to Rs 7.5 lakh.
-“The expenses of these declared private visits to countries have apparently been under-reported by Sameer Wankhede. In all the visits, expenditure incurred towards travelling, lodging, boarding, VISA, miscellaneous expenditure declared by him is in between Rs 1 lakh to Rs 2.5 lakh, which is clearly wrong declaration/under-reporting,” the report read.
-The NCB report also mentions that he brought a Rolex Gold watch, which costs over Rs 22 lakh for Rs 17,40,000 on credit.
-He also owns four flats in Mumbai and 41,688 acres of land in Washim. Wankhede claimed to spend Rs 82.8 lakh on a flat in Goregaon at Rs 2.45 crore.
-According to India Today, which also accessed the report, the information note was altered at the last moment, with the names of Aryan Khan and Arbaaz Merchant included and other suspects’ names were dropped.
-SET collected CCTV equipment from the NCB office to verify facts but the footage was corrupted.
-Aryan Khan and Arbaaz were brought to NCB office in a private vehicle belonging to KP Gosavi, instead of an official car. The audio recording of Aryan Khan by KP Gosavi also raised concerns about procedural lapses and compromised custody.
-His income, as per Income Tax Returns, is also considerably lower than the expenses incurred during his foreign trips and the purchase of expensive watches.
Meanwhile, the former NCB zonal director on Friday moved a petition before the Bombay High Court seeking quashing of an FIR filed against him by the CBI for allegedly demanding Rs 25 crore bribe from superstar Shah Rukh Khan for not implicating his son Aryan Khan in the drugs case. In the petition moved before a vacation bench of the high court, Wankhede also sought that no coercive action related to the CBI FIR be taken against him.