According to the first information report (FIR) submitted by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the drug case involving actor Shah Rukh Khan’s son, KP Gosavi and his aide Sanvile D’Souza plotted to extort Rs 25 crore from Aryan Khan’s family on behalf of Sameer Wankhede, then Zonal Director with the NCB. Gosavi was brought in as an independent witness by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB).
The FIR said that Gosavi and D’Souza accepted a bribe of Rs 50 lakh, but that Gosavi subsequently returned some of this token sum, settling the total at Rs 18 crore.
The Special Enquiry Team (SET), which was established by the NCB after the case’s first witness, Prabhakar Sail, said that Wankhede and Gosavi intended to extort a sizable sum of money from Aryan Khan’s family, is the basis for the FIR.
The FIR further said that Wankhede and two team members did not follow the case’s investigational process.
On the basis of a complaint from the NCB, the CBI has detained Wankhede and others for suspected criminal conspiracy (120-B IPC), threat of extortion (388 IPC), and provisions of bribery under the Prevention of Corruption Act.
BREACHED THE LAWS RELATING TO WANKHEDE’S SOURCE OF INCOME: FROM CBI FIR
The NCB squad carried out a raid on the ship Cordelia on October 2, 2021, after receiving a report that drug-carrying passengers had boarded it. According to the FIR, despite the fact that Siddharth Shah delivered the charas to Arbaz Merchant, they detained Merchant even though he had charas in his hands.
Shah acknowledged receiving funds from Merchant for the selling of charas. Incriminating conversations between the two were also disregarded.
Gosavi, whose picture with Aryan Khan went viral, was spotted escorting the suspect inside the NCB office while holding his hand. According to NCB regulations, the accused may only be detained and taken into custody by the officer who is now on duty.
Additionally, Wankhede transported the suspects in a private car.
The SET team’s report, which claims that during their investigation, Wankhede was unable to adequately explain his international journeys and was unable to provide specifics about the costs associated with those visits, was also referenced by the CBI in the FIR. Additionally, he was unable to disclose the funding for his travel abroad. The investigation also revealed that Wankhede had engaged in the buying and selling of pricey wristwatches.
The NCB detained Khan even though no narcotics were found on him during his arrest even though he was still named as a suspect in the case, according to the FIR.
WANKHEDE REACTION
Wankhede, who is now an official with the Indian Revenue Services (IRS), commented on the FIR in an interview with News18. He questioned why the individual he wanted money from would file a complaint against him if there had been transactions connected to the Aryan Khan case.
The former policeman said that he is an honest guy and that the incident was a personal assault on him.
THE ‘TOLD YOU SO’ MOMENT OF NAWAB MALIK
Nawab Malik, a Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) MLA and former minister, spoke out against Wankhede after Khan’s detention.
Wankhede and his group are allegedly trying to extort the money from Khan’s family, according to Malik. The probe was referred to as “farziwada” by Malik.
In the media, Sail had also discussed the extortion. Additionally, he had provided an affidavit in which he said that Gosavi had planned the plot over the phone and that Wankhede had requested him to sign on blank pieces of paper. As there were no evidences uncovered against Aryan Khan in this instance, he eventually received a clean cheat from the NCB.
After filing the FIR against the 2008-batch officer Wankhede and four other people, including former NCB Superintendent Vishwa Vijay Singh, Intelligence Officer Ashish Ranjan, Gosavi, and D’Souza, a coordinated search operation was started on Friday at 29 locations in Mumbai, Delhi, Ranchi, Lucknow, Guwahati, and Chennai.
