Aryan Khan drugs case: CBI books Sameer Wankhede for seeking ₹ 25 cr to let Shah Rukh Khan’s son off the hook

According to the FIR submitted by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan was extorted and threatened to pay Rs 25 crore in order to protect his son Aryan Khan in a drugs case. Independent witness KP Gosavi, whose Instagram photo with Aryan Khan went viral, is accused of attempting to extort Rs 25 crore from Shah Rukh Khan on behalf of Sameer Wankhede, the former NCB Zonal Director who is mentioned as the primary offender in the CBI's FIR.

Along with KP Gosavi and his partner D'Souza, the CBI has implicated Sameer Wankhede, an IRS officer from the 2008 batch, V.V. Singh, a Superintendent with the NCB, and Ashish Ranjan, the former investigating officer in the Aryan Khan drugs case, as defendants in the case.

According to the CBI, Wankhede and others allegedly wanted a Rs 25 crore bribe in exchange for not implicating Aryan Khan in the narcotics bust case.

“Sameer Wankhede as then Zonal Director of NCB and in the capacity of the immediate supervisory officer, had directed to take KP Gosavi and Prabhakar Sail as the independent witness in the proceedings against the accused and directed V.V. Singh to let KP Gosavi handle the accused while taking him to NCB office and thereby allowing a free hand to KP Gosavi and others in order to create such a visual impression of KP Gosavi having the custody of the accused and escorting and dragging him towards NCB Mumbai office," the CBI FIR read.

According to the FIR, the Special Enquiry Team (SET) of the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) investigation found that the accused—including Aryan Khan—were driven to the NCB office in K P Gosavi, an independent witness,'s private vehicle.

“It appeared that the presence of the independent witness KP Gosavi around accused persons was created intentionally in such a manner so as to give an impression that KP Gosavi was an NCB personnel even though there were NCB personnel to handle the custody of the accused persons. The independent witness KP Gosavi was allowed to be present in the company of accused persons and even allowed to come to the NCB office after the raid which is against the norms for an independent witness," the CBI FIR read.

KP Gosavi took a selfie with Aryan Khan while the latter was being held by NCB officials, and the photo quickly went viral. Additionally, according to the CBI FIR, K P Gosavi was free to take selfies, record Aryan Khan's voice note, and take pictures.

“It was this position that allowed KP Gosavi and his aide Sanvile D'Souza amongst others to enter into the conspiracy to extort an amount of Rs 25 crore from the family members of the alleged 'accused', Aryan Khan by threatening them of the accusation of offences of possession of Narcotics substances. This amount was finally settled for Rs 18 crore. A token amount of Rs 50 lakh as bribe money was also taken by KP Gosavi and his aide Sanvile D'Souza but later a part of this amount of Rs 50 lakh bribe money was returned back by them," the FIR stated.

The NCB's internal investigations have turned up allegations of criminal wrongdoing and corrupt behaviour against Sameer Wankhede and Ashish Ranjan separately, which were insufficient justifications for their acquisition of assets relative to their claimed income.

The FIR further claims that Sameer Wankhede's abroad trips were not adequately disclosed by him and that he appeared to have overstated the amount of money he spent on them.

"He has also not declared the source of his foreign visits properly. It was also found that Sameer Wankhede has indulged himself in sale and purchase of expensive wrist watches with a private entity, Viral Rajan, without intimating the department (present or parent),” added the FIR.

Following a preliminary investigation by the CBI on the basis of a vigilance report, the case was filed against Wankhede. It was discovered throughout the diligence investigation that Sameer Wankhede accumulated wealth through corruption. Following the filing of the FIR, the CBI also conducted raids at 30 other locations, including Sameer Wankhede's home and place of business.