Bombay HC Asks CBI Not To Take Coercive Action Against Wankhede In Aryan Case Till May 22

The Bombay High Court on Friday ordered the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) not to take coercive steps against former Mumbai zonal director of Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) Sameer Wankhede till May 22 in the Aryan Khan bribery case.

However, the court has asked Wankhede to appear before the central agency at 11 am on Saturday. "Petitioner who is present in court undertakes that he will attend the office of CBI at BKC tomorrow at 11 am. Considering that contentions under section 17A and notice under 41A CRPC, we deem it appropriate to direct respondents to not take coercive action till May 22," a vacation bench of Justices Sharmila Deshmukh and Arif Doctor said.

Former NCB zonal director Sameer Wankhede on Friday moved the vacation bench of the Bombay High Court seeking no coercive action against him. In his petition, he claimed that the action in the case of Aryan Khan is being taken out of revenge. It came a day after he failed to appear before the central agency for questioning.

On the other hand, the Delhi High Court on Thursday granted protection from coercive action to Wankhede, booked by the CBI for allegedly demanding Rs 25 crore bribe to let off Aryan Khan in the drug case.

His Advocate Shubhi Srivastava said Justice Vikas Mahajan granted the protection from coercive steps for five days with the liberty to approach the appropriate forum, PTI reported.

The central agency booked Wankhede and others for alleged criminal conspiracy (120-B IPC), and threat of extortion (388 IPC) besides provisions pertaining to bribery under the Prevention of Corruption Act on a complaint from the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), according to a report in PTI.

Aryan Khan was arrested in the alleged drug bust case on the Cordelia cruise ship on October 2, 2021, on suspicion of cocaine possession. He was granted bail by the Bombay High Court, 25 days later.

However, the officials of the special enquiry team (SET) of the NCB found several lapses and irregularities in the operation on the cruise ship. K P Gosavi and his aide Prabhakar Sail, now deceased, were included as independent witnesses while they had conspired to extort Rs 25 crore from Shah Rukh Khan.

In order to let Aryan Khan walk free, they negotiated the amount and brought it down to Rs 18 crore. They had even got Rs 50 lakh bribe as a token of advance, but it was returned later.