The Bombay High Court on June 23 extended the temporary relief granted to Indian Revenue Service officer Sameer Wankhede by directing the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to not take any coercive action against him till June 28 in a corruption and extortion case against him.
A Division Bench of Justice A.S. Gadkari and Justice Shivkumar Dige was hearing a petition filed by the former zonal director of the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) to quash the First Information Report (FIR) against him by the CBI alleging that he demanded ₹25 crore bribe from actor Shah Rukh Khan for not arresting his son Aryan in the drug racket case of October 2021.
CBI prosecutor on Friday told the Bench that the order by the High Court (passed last month) of no coercive action against Mr. Wankhede was causing prejudice to the Central agency.
The Bench asked how an arrest could be made without serving him a notice under Section 41A (notice of appearance before police officer) of the Code of Criminal Procedure. The court said, “Once you give notice under 41A your intention is not to arrest him. Or else make a statement that you will give 48 hours’ notice before arresting him.”
The court then asked for the case diary (a record maintained by the police in the investigation). However, the CBI did not have it then. The court directed the CBI to produce the case diary and extended the interim relief to Mr. Wankhede till June 28.
Mr. Wankhede had come to the limelight following the high-profile October 2021 raids by the NCB on a Mumbai cruise after which the agency had arrested Aryan Khan and 19 others and claimed to have seized some narcotics too.
