X: @the_news_21
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) informed the Bombay High Court on Thursday that it will refrain from arresting Indian Revenue Officer and former Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) zonal director Sameer Wankhede in a money laundering case until February 20.
Wankhede had filed a petition last week seeking the quashing of the case registered by the ED. As an interim relief, he requested a stay on the probe and protection from coercive action.
A division bench of Justices PD Naik and NR Borkar stated that due to time constraints, it couldn’t hear the petition on Thursday but assured that it would be heard on February 20.
ED advocate Sandesh Patil, after consulting with officials, announced that the agency would not arrest Wankhede until February 20. The court accepted the statement and scheduled the hearing for Wankhede’s plea on the specified date.
Patil argued against the plea, suggesting that since the ECIR (Enforcement Case Information Report) had been transferred to the ED’s Delhi office, Wankhede should approach the Delhi High Court. However, Wankhede’s counsel, Aabad Ponda, contended that the case originated from the CBI case, which was the predicate offence, and Wankhede had been granted interim protection from coercive action by the HC in May last year.
The ED had registered a money laundering case against Wankhede based on a CBI FIR, alleging that he demanded Rs 25 crore from actor Shah Rukh Khan to refrain from arresting his son Aryan Khan in the Cordelia Cruise drug bust case in October 2021.
Wankhede, in his plea, claimed that the ED’s case displayed “malice and vendetta” and accused powerful individuals of using agencies like the CBI, ED, and NCB to target him in various cases.
