CBI officials may record statements of Shah Rukh Khan, Aryan in Sameer Wankhede bribery case

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) plans to record the statements of actor Shah Rukh Khan and his son Aryan Khan in connection with its investigation into an alleged extortion attempt by the former zonal director of the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), Sameer Wankhede, agency officials familiar with the matter said.

“We will soon record the statements of Aryan Khan, who was arrested by NCB, and Shah Rukh Khan, from whom ₹25 crore was demanded, by the accused Kiran Gosavi and Sanville D’Souza at the behest of Wankhede. Recording their statements is necessary to get to the bottom of the conspiracy,” said one of the officials, asking not to be named.

The agency has already “partially examined” Wankhede in May but is waiting for the court’s approval to formally conduct an intensive interrogation session with him, this person added. The Bombay high court has granted Wankhede interim protection from arrest till June 23.

The extortion attempt is linked to the raid of a cruise ship off Mumbai in October 2021, and the arrest of Aryan Khan, despite no drugs being found on him. He was eventually granted bail after 25 days. It was clear at the time, despite attempts by NCB at the time to portray Aryan Khan as a dealer with international linkages, that the investigation was botched, and a subsequent review by the agency said he (Aryan Khan) had been “deliberately targeted”.

CBI filed a first information report (FIR) on May 11 against Wankhede, former superintendent of police of NCB Vishwa Vijay Singh, intelligence officer Ashish Ranjan, and Gosavi and D’Souza.

Based on a vigilance enquiry report by a special enquiry team (SET) led by NCB’s deputy director general (DDG) Gyaneshwar Singh, the FIR alleged that a conspiracy was hatched to extort ₹25 crore from Khan’s family in return for not framing his son, and that this amount was then reduced to ₹18 crore. A token amount of ₹50 lakh was taken by Gosavi but a part of this amount was later returned.

D’Souza was called for questioning on Tuesday while several other persons including members of NCB’s October 2-3, 2021, Cordelia Cruise raiding team have also been questioned over last few weeks, the officer cited above said.

The CBI team is also currently analysing technical and documentary evidence such as WhatsApp chats of the accused, NCB’s detailed internal enquiry reports, call detail records (CDRs) of Wankhede’s raid team and witnesses, according to a second officer, who also asked not to be named.

The agency has claimed before the high court that it has “prime facie” case of extortion and bribery against Wankhede while the high-profile and publicity loving officer of the Indian Revenue Service (IRS) has dismissed the charges saying the CBI action was result of a “vendetta” on part of a few NCB officers.

Earlier, while investigating the raid, NCB’s special investigation team (SIT) led by its DDG Sanjay Kumar Singh had spoken to Aryan, Shah Rukh Khan and the actor’s manager Seema Dadlani.

Aryan Khan was arrested on October 3, 2021, a day after the raid. SIT, on May 27 last year, cleared Aryan Khan saying he was not part of any larger drug-dealing racket as alleged by Wankhede.

NCB’s internal probe revealed that names of Aryan Khan and Arbaaz Merchant were included at the last moment in the “information note” of the agency. Besides, procedures such as documentation of seizure of phones, and the recording of statements were not done properly by Wankhede’s team, the investigation found. Wankhede’s assets are also under CBI’s scanner.