Bombay HC grants interim relief to Sameer Wankhede

In an interim relief, the Bombay High Court on Thursday shielded NCB’s former zonal director Sameer Wankhede from questioning in the enquiries initiated against him for alleged irregularities in two cases pending final hearing of his petition.

Wankhede, a 2008-batch Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer, had filed a petition in the HC in 2024 challenging the notices issued to him then on the Narcotics Control Bureau’s (NCB) enquiries over irregularities in two drug cases, including one related to actor Sushant Singh Rajput’s death. While the NCB claimed the enquiries were initiated on the basis of two anonymous complaints, Wankhede alleged that the same were at the behest of former Maharashtra minister Nawab Malik, who he claimed nursed a grudge against him as he had arrested Malik’s son-in-law Sameer Khan in a drugs case.

A division bench of Justices Ajay Gadkari and Kamal Khata on Thursday admitted Wankhede’s petition and said until the plea is finally heard and decided, the petitioner shall not be summoned for questioning.

The NCB had earlier submitted to the HC that there were serious and grave allegations of irregularities against Wankhede and hence enquiries were initiated against him.

After Rajput allegedly committed suicide at his residence in Mumbai in June 2020, the NCB initiated a probe into alleged drug use in the film industry.

The agency later registered a case of alleged possession, consumption and financing of drugs against Rajput’s girlfriend Rhea Chakraborty, her brother Showik and 33 others.

Later, the NCB received complaints of irregularities in the probe against Wankhede.

From November 2023 to March 2024, the NCB issued eight notices to the IRS officer, directing him to appear before the agency’s Deputy Director General Sanjay Singh, who is heading a preliminary inquiry.

In his petition, Wankhede called the inquiry an “act of vengeance”.

Wankhede was also booked by the Central Bureau of Investigation in May 2023 on charges of extortion and bribery for allegedly seeking Rs 25 crore to not frame actor Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan Khan in a case of alleged drug bust on a cruise ship.

Aryan Khan was arrested following an alleged drug bust on the Cordelia cruise ship on October 2, 2021.

Later, the NCB filed a charge sheet in the case against 14 accused persons, but gave a clean chit to Aryan Khan.

The Enforcement Directorate also later lodged a money laundering case against him.

Wankhede had moved the HC against both these cases and was granted interim protection from any coercive action.