IRS officer Sameer Wankhede who was granted protection from arrest till today by the Bombay high court in connection with the Aryan Khan drugs case said he and his wife Kranti Redkar have been receiving threats for the last four days. “I will write to Mumbai Police Commissioner today about it and demand special security,” the former Mumbai zon chief of the Narcotics Control Bureau said. His case will be heard by the Bombay high court again today. Read | Sameer Wankhede’s ‘chats’ with Shah Rukh Khan violation of rules: NCB officials
Kranti Redkar, Sameer Wankhede’s second wife, is an actor.
As the zonal chief of the Narcotics Control Bureau till 2021, Sameer Wankhede led the investigation in many high-profile Bollywood cases, including the drug angle of Sushant Sigh Rajput’s death case and the dugs on cruise case in which Aryan Khan was arrested. Read | Sameer Wankhede owns 4 flats in Mumbai, made 6 foreign trips in 5 years: Reports
The CBI has filed an FIR against Sameer Wankhede alleging that he sought a bribe of ₹25 crore from Shah Rukh Khan and promised to not press charges against Aryan Khan. Out of this bribe amount, ₹50 lakh was received. The transaction was executed by KP Gosavi whose selfie with Aryan Khan was viral. But KP Gosavi is not an insider of the NCB and was given a free hand by Wankhede in the case, the CBI alleged.
Several other irregularities have been levelled against Wankhede including discrepancy between his income and lavish lifestyle, undisclosed property, transaction etc. Sameer Wankhede dismissed all these allegations and said much of wealth and property are ancestral.
Sameer Wankhede’s purported chats with Shah Rukh Khan
The case took a sensational turn when Wankhede in the Bombay high court produced a transcript of his purported chat with Shah Rukh Khan, Aryan Khan’s father. In those chats while Shah Rukh Khan requested Wankhede to be kind to his son, there was no mention of the bribe and Shah Rukh Khan also praised Wankhede’s integrity as a government officer. NCB officials said it is a violation of rules for an investigating officer to engage with the family member of an accused. The veracity of the chats are also being questioned as some reports claimed that Shah Rukh Khan does not use WhatsApp.
