Bombay High Court Asks CBI To Produce Case Diary In Sameer Wankhede Extortion Case, Extends Interim Protection Till June 28

The Bombay High Court on Friday asked the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to produce the case diary before it took a decision whether to continue or vacate an interim order protecting former NCB officer Sameer Wankhede from arrest in Rs 25 Crore extortion case regarding the arrest of Aryan Khan in the 2021 Cruise Ship Drugs Case.

The bench comprising Justices AS Gadkari and SG Dige directed the CBI to produce the case diary by June 27 and posted the matter for hearing the next day. It extended the protection earlier granted to the officer.

“Till now you have not answered, if the notice under 41A of the CrPC is issued, where is the question of arrest? Produce the case diary,” Court said. It was seized with a quashing petition filed by Wankhede.

Earlier the vacation bench had protected Wankhede from arrest and asked CBI to file a detailed reply. The court had also asked him not to publish WhatsApp chats or make press statements related to the case.

At the outset Patil informed the court that the no coercive steps order was causing prejudice to the investigating agency.

“How can you arrest when you have given notice under 41A of the CrPC? So make a statement, that unless and until sub-sections 3 and 4 (of Section 41A CrPC) are satisfied you will not arrest,” the bench told the agency. The court also warned the agency against portraying a charade of a notice under section 41a of the CrPC.

“Make a statement that you will give 48 hours-notice before arresting him. Why don't you tell us whether or not you intend to arrest him? Don't play hide and seek with us… it seems the earlier bench has rightly protected him,” Justice Gadkari said.

The bench then asked the CBI to produce the case diary till the next date and extended Wankhede’s protection till June 28, 2023.

Wankhede was represented by Senior Advocate Aabad Ponda and Karan Jain.

Background

Wankhede, currently an IRS Officer, has approached the High Court challenging the FIR registered against him and five others by the CBI. The agency has accused them of demanding a bribe of Rs 25 crore from family members of those arrested in the 2021 Cordelia Cruise Ship Case, including actor Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan Khan.

Wankhede is a 2008-batch IRS officer from the reserved category. As former head of the NCB Zonal Unit, Wankhede had led raids where the Cordelia Cruise Ship was docked on October 2, 2021.

In the raid, the NCB claimed to have seized 13 gm of cocaine, 5 gm of mephedrone, 21 gm of marijuana, 22 pills of MDMA and Rs 1.33 lakh cash in the raid, and arrested 17 people, including Aryan Khan. However, following allegations of bribery and extortion, the case was transferred to a Special Investigations Team of the NCB.

The SIT gave a clean chit to Khan and five others last year. Panch witness Prakhakar Sail who detailed the alleged extortion in an affidavit died of a cardiac arrest in April last year.

The Bombay High Court said in its order granting bail to Khan and the other two on October 28, 2021, that prima facie there was no evidence on record to infer that Aryan Khan and his friend Arbaaz Merchant conspired to commit offences under the NDPS Act.

(Compiled by Sharmeen Hakim)