Mumbai: The alleged chats between former Mumbai zone head of the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) Sameer Wankhede and Shah Rukh Khan, which the former presented in court as part of his defence, are against the conduct rules, the ANI reported on SUnday citing NCB sources.
In the “father-to-father” chats, Shah Rukh reportedly praised Wankhede’s integrity while requesting him to be kind to Aryan. It took place on October 3, 2021.
NCB sources, however, said that service rules bar investigating officers from engaging with the family members of the “accused.” While the purported chats were presented in the court, Wankhede never informed his seniors about the conversation and also did not provide the phone on which he chatted with the actor.
Wankhede has been accused of demanding Rs 25 crore from Shah Rukh Khan when his son Aryan Khan was arrested in October 2021 in the drugs-on-cruise case. The bribe was supposedly negotiated through KP Gosavi, an independent witness in the case. The agency said that the deal was closed for Rs 18 crore adding that assets belonging to Wankhade were not proportionate to his known sources of income, reports added.
Meanwhile, Wankhede was called again by CBI for questioning in connection with the case on Sunday. He was questioned for five hours the previous day.
On Friday, he had moved Bombay High Court seeking quashing of the FIR filed against him by the CBI in the alleged bribery case. In the petition moved before a vacation bench of the high court, Wankhede also appealed for no coercive action against him on basis of the FIR.
Notably, the Delhi High Court on Wednesday granted protection from coercive action to Wankhede for five days with the liberty to approach the appropriate forum, which would be the Bombay High Court.
