Ex-NCB officer Sameer Wankhede moves HC against ED's money laundering case
Mumbai (PTI): Former Mumbai NCB zonal director Sameer Wankhede has moved the Bombay High Court challenging the Enforcement Directorate's money laundering case against him, claiming that it was a "counter blast" to a complaint filed by him against the anti-drug agency's senior official.
The ED registered the money laundering case against Wankhede after taking cognisance of a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) FIR in an alleged Rs 25 crore bribe demand from Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan's family to spare his son Aryan Khan in a drugs case.
Wankhede, a 2008-batch Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer of the Customs and Indirect Taxes cadre, in his plea said the ED's case "smacks of malice and vendetta".
The petition filed on February 6 through advocates Karan Jain, Sneha Sanap and Aditya Targe sought for the ED case to be quashed and an interim order to be passed granting him protection from any coercive action.
Wankhede also sought for the probe being carried out by the ED to be stayed till his petition against the CBI case is heard and decided.
Both his petitions (one against the CBI case and the other against the ED case) are likely to come up for hearing on February 15 before a division bench headed by Justice P D Naik.
In the CBI case, Wankhede has been granted interim protection from coercive action by the HC last year.
In the petition against the ED case, Wankhede claimed that while the ECIR (enforcement case information report) was registered last year, summons have been issued to some NCB officers now after Wankhede filed a complaint against NCB's Deputy Director General Gyaneshwar Singh last month before a Delhi court seeking action against him under the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
Wankhede claimed he was constrained to approach the court in Delhi as both the Delhi and Mumbai police had failed to conduct an inquiry into the complaint letters he addressed to them against Singh.
A court in Delhi on February 6 had issued notice to the Deputy Commissioner of Police, South West Delhi directing him to submit an action taken report on Wankhede's complaints.
Wankhede in his petition filed in the HC against the ED's case said Singh and few powerful people in power have unleashed all agencies like the CBI, ED and NCB to fix him in some case.
"The ED's case is a counter blast to the complaint filed by the petitioner (Wankhede) against IPS Gyaneshwar in January 2024," his plea said.
It further alleged that Wankhede had received a call threatening him to withdraw the complaints he has submitted against Singh and resign from his post as IRS officer.
Wankhede was booked by the CBI in May last year on charges of seeking Rs 25 crore bribe for not framing Shah Rukh Khan's son Aryan Khan in the drugs-on-cruise case.
The CBI booked Wankhede and others for alleged criminal conspiracy (120-B IPC), and threat of extortion (388 IPC) besides provisions pertaining to bribery under the Prevention of Corruption Act on a complaint from the NCB.
Aryan Khan was arrested in the alleged drug bust case on the Cordelia cruise ship on October 2, 2021.
Later, the NCB filed a chargesheet in the drugs-on-cruise case against 14 accused but gave a clean chit to Aryan Khan.
The much-hyped case took a twist when an 'independent witness' had claimed in 2021 that Rs 25 crore was demanded by an NCB official and other persons, including a witness Gosavi, to let off Aryan Khan.
The NCB later conducted an internal vigilance probe against Wankhede and others and shared the contents with CBI leading to registration of a case against him.
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Heavy rain, hailstorms likely to lash Uttarakhand on Tuesday; IMD issues warning
Dehradun/Pithoragarh (PTI): The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued a warning for heavy rain and hailstorms across several districts of Uttarakhand on Tuesday, as temperatures remained markedly below normal in the region.
Heavy rainfall is likely at isolated places in Dehradun, Haridwar, Tehri, Pauri, Nainital, Champawat, and Udham Singh Nagar districts. Most places across all districts are expected to receive light to moderate rain or thunderstorms, while higher reaches are likely to witness snowfall, officials said on Monday.
The weather department warned of thunderstorms accompanied by lightning, hail and intense spells of rain in six districts, including Dehradun and Nainital. Gusty winds with speeds reaching 40-50 kmph are also expected at isolated locations in these areas and other hilly districts.
In the state capital, Dehradun, the sky is forecast to remain partly cloudy with light rain and thunderstorms accompanied by gusty winds of 30-40 kmph.
The maximum and minimum temperatures in the city are expected to hover around 31 degrees Celsius and 19 degrees Celsius, respectively.
Maximum temperatures during the past 24 hours remained markedly below normal in the hills and appreciably below normal in the plains. While no significant change in temperature is expected over the next 2-3 days, the IMD predicts a rise of 3-5 degrees Celsius during the subsequent 3-4 days.
Rainfall was recorded in several areas after 8.30 am today, with Ramnagar receiving 31.5 mm and Nainital recording 26.5 mm. Other areas, including Pithoragarh, Khatima and Champawat, also reported moderate precipitation.
Authorities have stopped a batch of 36 Adi Kailash pilgrims at the Dharchula base camp and placed the high-altitude yatra route on high alert following heavy rains and hailstorms in the district on Monday.
Dharchula SDM Ashish Joshi said the pilgrimage was halted due to adverse weather conditions. The issuance of new inner-line passes has been suspended until the weather normalises.
With 1,700 passes issued so far, pilgrims already at higher camps are being monitored for safety, the official added.
