New Delhi: Sameer Wankhede, the former anti-drugs official who arrested Aryan Khan, the son of actor Shah Rukh Khan, in a drugs case is in the dock himself. According to a report filed by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), he had made multiple trips abroad with his family and owned vast property disproportionate to his income.
The report states that Wankhede had made six private foreign trips with his family to the United Kingdom, Ireland, Portugal, South Africa, and Maldives in five years, between 2017 and 2021. These foreign trips spanned over 55 days, with a declared expenditure of Rs 8.75 lakh, which as per the report, barely covered the air travel fare. The report also mentioned that for a 19-day trip to London, Wankhede had claimed Rs 1 lakh as the expense. When contacted, Wankhede said, “I have relatives staying in Europe, and I did not stay at five-star hotels during these trips… so, there were no major expenses.”
Wankhede and his friend Viral Jamaluddin stayed at the Taj Exotica in Maldives, along with their families and domestic workers in July 2021, and paid the expenses via a credit card, the report added.
The report by the NCB’s vigilance department indicates that the names of Aryan Khan and his friend Arbaaz Merchant were added at the last moment and the name of some other suspects were dropped. During the raid, despite the recovery of rolling paper from a suspect, she was allowed to go, the report says.
A series of lapses in the custody of Aryan Khan indicates that Sameer Wankhede intentionally compromised it to give an opportunity to Kiran Gosavi, the independent witness in the Mumbai cruise raid, for misconduct and violation of Central Civil Services laws. The CCTV footage of the NCB office collected by a probe team, had gone corrupt. The DVR and Hard Copy of the night when Aryan Khan was brought to the NCB office that was submitted by the Mumbai team of the NCB were different, the report says.
The SIT report mentioned that Wankhede had bought a Rolex Gold watch — retailing at Rs 22,05,000 — for Rs 17,40,000 on credit from his friend Viral. The vigilance probe panel found multiple invoices or quotes for the same watch and expressed doubts about its authenticity. “My wife, who has only purchased one watch in her entire life, gifted me that watch, for which she paid money in instalments,” Wankhede replied, according to an Indian Express report.
He also owns four flats in Mumbai and 41,688 acres of land in Washim. In his communications to the agency, Sameer Wankhede has claimed he spent Rs 82.8 lakh on a fifth flat in Goregaon valued at Rs 2.45 crore. There is also mention of a flat purchased by him and his wife before their marriage for Rs 1.25 crore. The source of this money remains a mystery. The Income Tax returns of Wankhede and his wife show their annual income is 45,61,460, which does not explain how they have funded their foreign trips and other assets, NDTV reported.
