Won’t arrest Sameer Wankhede till Feb 20 in money laundering case: ED tells Bombay HC

MUMBAI: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday told the Bombay High Court it would not arrest Sameer Wankhede, former zonal director of Mumbai unit of Narcotics Control Bureau, in a money laundering case till February 20.

Wankhede last week filed a petition in the HC seeking to quash the case lodged by the ED and, by way of an interim order, stay on the probe and protection from any coercive action.

The bench said the matter needs to be heard at length and asked advocate Sandesh Patil, appearing for the ED, to state if the agency intends to arrest Wankhede until then.

The ED registered a money laundering case against Wankhede after taking cognisance of a CBI FIR over an alleged Rs 25 crore bribe demand from film superstar Shah Rukh Khan’s family to spare his son in a drugs case.

Wankhede, a 2008-batch Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer of the Customs and Indirect Taxes cadre, in his plea said the ED’s case “smacks of malice and vendetta”.

He further alleged Singh and few powerful people have unleashed agencies like the CBI, ED and NCB to fix him in some cases. Wankhede was booked by the CBI in May last year on charges of seeking Rs 25-crore bribe for not framing Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan Khan in the drugs-on-cruise case.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) booked Wankhede and others for alleged criminal conspiracy (120-B IPC), and threat of extortion (388 IPC) besides provisions pertaining to bribery under Prevention of Corruption Act on a complaint from the NCB.

Aryan Khan was arrested in the alleged drug bust case on the Cordelia cruise ship on October 2, 2021.

Later, the NCB filed a charge sheet in the drugs-on-cruise case against 14 accused but gave a clean chit to Aryan Khan.