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MUMBAI: Enforcement Directorate (ED) has recorded statements of two Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) officials in a money laundering case against IRS officer Sameer Wankhede to find out about the missing CCTV footage linked to arrest of actor Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan Khan in the 2021 Cordelia drugs bust case.
It has been alleged by the Special Enquiry Team of the NCB that Aryan’s name was added to the intelligence information called ‘I-note’ afterwards. NCB subsequently dropped the case against Aryan. Meanwhile, on Tuesday, the ED informed the Bombay high court that it has transferred the case to its Delhi office for further investigation on administrative ground and Wankhede should approach the Delhi high court for any relief in the case. Earlier Wankhede had challenged the ED case against him before the Bombay high court and asked for protection. Wankhede’s lawyer took objection on the ED’s decision to transfer the case and called it “malafide” to ensure that Wankhede should not get the hearing on Tuesday.
The Bombay high court will hear the matter on Thursday along Wankhede’s similar petition filed last year challenging the CBI’s corruption-extortion case against him. Wankhede had court protection in the CBI case and he sought similar protection in the ED’s money laundering case as it is based on the CBI’s FIR.
The ED decided to transferred its case to Delhi unit as the entire cause of action lies there and CBI’s Delhi unit investigating the case. Also the NCB’s vigilance department on whose complaint the CBI had registered the case against Wankhede based in Delhi.
The ED which has registered the money laundering case against Wankhede a few months ago, has intensified its investigation last week after sending summons to three NCB officials. Two of these officials earlier posted at NCB’s Mumbai zonal office and the ED has recorded their statements.
One of the officials was working in administration department which was also managing the office CCTV cameras. While the second officer was involved in the Aryan Khan investigation and was part of the preparation of I-list which was altered to include Aryan Khan’s name in the suspects list. After the bribery controversy, NCB formed a special enquiry team (SET) under IPS officer Gnyaneshwar Singh to investigate Wankhede and his team’s conduct during the investigation and found several negligences in the case. Subsequently the SET recommended CBI case against Wankhede along with his key team members and gave Aryan Khan clean chit in the case.
The SET had said that “The CCTV equipment of the NCB office was collected by the Special Enquiry Team to verify the facts. However it was found that the same has gone corrupt. The DVR and the Hard Disc provided by the office of NCB Mumbai were different. It appears from the actions of the Zone that the CCTV footage did have something important and the same was intentionally not provided to the SET.”
The SET also had said that “It appeared that the Information note was modified at the last moment and the names of accused Aryan Khan and Arbaaz were included at the last moment and the names of some other suspects were dropped from the original information note.”
It has been alleged by the Special Enquiry Team of the NCB that Aryan’s name was added to the intelligence information called ‘I-note’ afterwards. NCB subsequently dropped the case against Aryan. Meanwhile, on Tuesday, the ED informed the Bombay high court that it has transferred the case to its Delhi office for further investigation on administrative ground and Wankhede should approach the Delhi high court for any relief in the case. Earlier Wankhede had challenged the ED case against him before the Bombay high court and asked for protection. Wankhede’s lawyer took objection on the ED’s decision to transfer the case and called it “malafide” to ensure that Wankhede should not get the hearing on Tuesday.
The Bombay high court will hear the matter on Thursday along Wankhede’s similar petition filed last year challenging the CBI’s corruption-extortion case against him. Wankhede had court protection in the CBI case and he sought similar protection in the ED’s money laundering case as it is based on the CBI’s FIR.
The ED decided to transferred its case to Delhi unit as the entire cause of action lies there and CBI’s Delhi unit investigating the case. Also the NCB’s vigilance department on whose complaint the CBI had registered the case against Wankhede based in Delhi.
The ED which has registered the money laundering case against Wankhede a few months ago, has intensified its investigation last week after sending summons to three NCB officials. Two of these officials earlier posted at NCB’s Mumbai zonal office and the ED has recorded their statements.
One of the officials was working in administration department which was also managing the office CCTV cameras. While the second officer was involved in the Aryan Khan investigation and was part of the preparation of I-list which was altered to include Aryan Khan’s name in the suspects list. After the bribery controversy, NCB formed a special enquiry team (SET) under IPS officer Gnyaneshwar Singh to investigate Wankhede and his team’s conduct during the investigation and found several negligences in the case. Subsequently the SET recommended CBI case against Wankhede along with his key team members and gave Aryan Khan clean chit in the case.
The SET had said that “The CCTV equipment of the NCB office was collected by the Special Enquiry Team to verify the facts. However it was found that the same has gone corrupt. The DVR and the Hard Disc provided by the office of NCB Mumbai were different. It appears from the actions of the Zone that the CCTV footage did have something important and the same was intentionally not provided to the SET.”
The SET also had said that “It appeared that the Information note was modified at the last moment and the names of accused Aryan Khan and Arbaaz were included at the last moment and the names of some other suspects were dropped from the original information note.”
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