On Friday, Sameer Wankhede in his defence produced the chats with Shah Rukh Khan where the superstar praised Wankhede’s integrity.
Former Mumbai zone head of the Narcotics Control Bureau Sameer Wankhede on Saturday reached the CBI office in Mumbai to face interrogation in the ₹25 crore alleged bribery case in connection with Aryan Khan’s arrest. The Bombay high court on Friday asked the CBI to not take any coercive action against Wankhede which means he can’t be arrested today. Wankhede has been accused of demanding ₹25 crore from Shah Rukh Khan when his son Aryan Khan was arrested in October 2021 from a cruise. In the Bombay high court on Friday, Sameer Wankhede, in his defence, produced his chats with Shah Rukh Khan where Shah Rukh praised Wankhede’s integrity as he requested Wankhede to be kind to Aryan.
Sameer Wankhede has been accused of several irregularities in a vigilance probe of the NCB. There has been no match between his income and his expenses and he underreported his foreign travel expenses; made a doubtful deal over a valuable watch; and demanded ₹25 crore bribe from Shah Rukh Khan to not press charges against Aryan Khan. The bribe was made through KP Gosavi, who was given a free hand in the Aryan Khan case and was made to look like an NCB insider.
Sameer Wankhede dismissed the allegations and said the CBI filed an FIR against him only because he complained against the NCB deputy director Gyaneshwar Singh for casteist comments.
Here are the latest updates on the Sameer Wankhede case:
1. While Sameer Wankhede is accused of falsely implicating Aryan Khan, Wankhede said Aryan Khan’s name was there in the draft complaint but was dropped from the final one.
2. The draft complaint was replaced by another draft complaint prepared from outside, Wankhede alleged.
3. Wankhede said in dropping Aryan Khan’s name, Gyaneshwar Singh played a major role.
4. In the purported chats between Wankhede and SRK, as produced by Wankhede in the court, there was no mention of the bribe.
5. “Please show some kindness my man. Love srk I can only plead and beg you as a father. Please,” Shah Rukh Khan wrote to Wankhede while praising his uprightness.
6. In a chat, Wankhede told Shah Rukh Khan that he wanted to be kind to “the child (Aryan Khan) and look at him in a reformatory way” but the effort was maligned by vested interest people.
7. SRK said Aryan was not part of that and his role is minuscule in it. “All he needs is reformation,” SRK said.
