Sameer Wankhede expresses surprise over money-laundering case by ED

Wankhede is facing allegations and a CBI probe for allegedly seeking a bribe of Rs 25 crore during the October 2021 raid on the Cordelia cruise ship in which actor Shah Rukh Khan's son Aryan Khan was also arrested

Mumbai: IRS officer Sameer Wankhede on Saturday expressed surprise over an alleged money-laundering case lodged against him by the ED, but assured he would cooperate fully with the probe agency.

Wankhede, the former Zonal Director of Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) Mumbai, is facing allegations and a CBI probe for allegedly seeking a bribe of Rs 25 crore during the October 2021 raid on the Cordelia cruise ship in which actor Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan Khan was also arrested.

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The ED had registered the Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) in 2023. It is surprising that this ECIR is based on the CBI FIR which is already under question before the Bombay High Court, said Wankhede in a brief reaction in Maharashtra.

However, he pointed out that since the matter was sub judice, he wouldn’t say anything more on it, but would give an appropriate reply in court at the right time. Wankhede reiterated that he had full faith in the Indian Judiciary. The IRS officer’s tenure as the NCB Mumbai Zonal Director is under the scanner of the CBI which had registered the FIR against him.

The ED, which has filed a case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act has now summoned Wankhede for questioning. An officer of IRS 2008, Wankhede had earlier moved the Bombay HC seeking protection from any coercive action by the ED.

During the high-profile NCB raids on the cruiser Cordelia, 20 people were arrested and certain quantities of drugs were recovered in that operation. Subsequently, Wankhede and others faced a NCB Vigilance probe into the lapses in the raid.

The charges against Aryan Khan were dropped in May 2022 due to lack of evidence.