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The Bombay High Court on Monday directed Sameer Wankhede to not publish WhatsApp chats or make statements to the press. Court also extended Wankhede’s protection till June 8 in the extortion case filed against him.
The next hearing is scheduled on June 8. Wankhede has been asked by the court to visit the CBI office as and when called.
Meanwhile, NCB officials are examining whether Wankhede violated conduct rules by engaging in conversations with Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan while handling the Cordelia cruise ‘drug bust’ case.
According to an NCB officer, such interactions with the family or relative of an accused during a case are considered a violation of conduct rules, and the matter is currently being examined.
Sameer Wankhede was questioned by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for more than five hours on Sunday, marking the second consecutive day of interrogation. The CBI is investigating the alleged demand for a Rs 25-crore bribe from Shah Rukh Khan to avoid implicating his son, Aryan Khan, in the drug bust case.
The investigation is also focusing on Wankhede’s assets, foreign visits, misdeclared expenditures, and the source of his foreign trips.
Upon entering the CBI office on Sunday, Wankhede expressed his faith in the judiciary but did not respond to media inquiries. He was granted a lunch break during the questioning and left the CBI office around 4.30 pm.
Wankhede received relief from the Bombay High Court on May 19, which directed the CBI not to take any coercive action, including arrest, against him until May 22. He sought to quash the FIR, claiming that Aryan Khan’s name was initially mentioned as an accused in the 2021 cruise ship drugs case but was later dropped.
Aryan Khan was arrested by the NCB on October 3, 2021, in connection with an alleged drug seizure on board the Cordelia cruise ship. He was granted bail three weeks later due to the NCB’s failure to substantiate the charges against him.
The CBI’s case alleges that some NCB officers conspired to receive bribes from the accused in exchange for leniency. Wankhede, who denies the allegations, provided transcripts of his phone chats with Shah Rukh Khan during Aryan’s custody period, where Khan pleaded for kindness towards his son and praised Wankhede for his integrity.
