CBI Grills Ex-NCB Mumbai Chief Sameer Wankhede Over Cordelia Cruise Extortion Allegations

Mumbai: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has interrogated Sameer Wankhede, former Mumbai Zonal Director of the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) and an IRS officer, regarding an alleged extortion case related to the Cordelia cruise raid involving Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan’s son, Aryan. According to the directive from the Bombay High Court, Wankhede appeared at the CBI regional headquarters in Bandra Kurla Complex on Saturday to provide his statement.

Wankhede was allowed a lunch break during the questioning process, which lasted a few hours. He was then permitted to leave around 4.30 p.m., as stated by official sources. On Friday, the Bombay High Court granted Wankhede relief from coercive action until May 22. Wankhede, an IRS officer from the 2008 batch, has drawn attention due to his involvement in the Cordelia Cruise ship raid on October 2, 2021.

It is worth noting that Nawab Malik, a former minister in the Maha Vikas Aghadi government and a Nationalist Congress Party leader, along with Prabhakar Sail (a witness in the cruise raid who passed away last year), had made several corruption allegations against Wankhede and the raid team. However, Wankhede has vehemently denied all the allegations and expressed his confidence in the judiciary, the Central government, and the CBI to ensure justice.

Following this, Wankhede was relieved from the cruise raid case, and an internal investigation was conducted to address the allegations he faced. The NCB subsequently provided a ‘clean chit’ to Aryan Khan in May 2022, citing a lack of evidence against him.

Apart from Wankhede, the CBI has also registered cases against two other NCB officers, Vishwa Vijay Singh and Ashish Ranjan, as well as witnesses in the ship case, K.P. Gosavi and Sanvile D’Souza.

In the meantime, the Bombay High Court has scheduled further hearings on Wankhede’s plea for Monday.