Won't arrest Sameer Wankhede till Feb 20 in money laundering case: ED tells Bombay High Court

Mumbai: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday told the Bombay High Court it would not arrest Sameer Wankhede, former zonal director of Mumbai unit of Narcotics Control Bureau, in a money laundering case till February 20.

Wankhede last week filed a petition in the HC seeking to quash the case lodged by the ED and, by way of an interim order, stay on the probe and protection from any coercive action.

A division bench of Justices PD Naik and NR Borkar said due to paucity of time on Thursday and Friday and as courts are not working on Monday (February 19) it would not be able to hear the plea until Tuesday (February 20).

The bench said the matter needs to be heard at length and asked advocate Sandesh Patil, appearing for the ED, to state if the agency intends to arrest Wankhede until then.

Patil, after seeking instructions from the concerned officials, told the court the agency would not arrest Wankhede till February 20.

The bench accepted the statement and posted the plea for hearing on February 20.

Patil submitted to the court that since the ECIR has been transferred to the ED's Delhi office, Wankhede should approach the court there as the cause of action lies in that jurisdiction.

Wankhede's counsel Aabad Ponda, however, said when the IRS officer had moved the Delhi court against the CBI's corruption and extortion case, which is the predicate offence (based on which ED launched its probe), he was asked to approach the Mumbai court.

Ponda further said Wankhede was last year granted interim protection by HC from coercive in the CBI case and this continues.

The ED registered a money laundering case against Wankhede after taking cognisance of a CBI FIR over an alleged Rs 25 crore bribe demand from film superstar Shah Rukh Khan's family to spare his son in a drugs case.

Wankhede, a 2008-batch Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer of the Customs and Indirect Taxes cadre, in his plea said the ED's case 'smacks of malice and vendetta'.

Wankhede claimed while the ECIR was registered last year, summons have been issued now to some NCB officers after he filed a complaint against NCB's deputy director Gyaneshwar Singh last month before a Delhi court seeking action under the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.

He further alleged Singh and few powerful people have unleashed agencies like the CBI, ED and NCB to fix him in some case.

Wankhede was booked by the CBI in May last year on charges of seeking Rs 25-crore bribe for not framing Shah Rukh Khan's son Aryan Khan in the drugs-on-cruise case.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) booked Wankhede and others for alleged criminal conspiracy (120-B IPC), and threat of extortion (388 IPC) besides provisions pertaining to bribery under Prevention of Corruption Act on a complaint from the NCB.

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

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

The much-hyped case took a twist when an 'independent witness' had claimed in 2021 that Rs 25 crore was demanded by an NCB official and other persons to let off Aryan Khan.

The NCB later conducted an internal vigilance probe against Wankhede and others and shared the contents with CBI leading to registration of a case against him.