Never sought bribe from Shah Rukh Khan to spare his son in drugs case: Sameer Wankhede
Mumbai (PTI): Former NCB Mumbai zonal director Sameer Wankhede told the Bombay High Court on Monday that he never demanded or took a bribe from actor Shah Rukh Khan to spare his son Aryan Khan following the latter's arrest in a cruise drugs case.
Wankhede's counsel, Aabad Ponda, was arguing the Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer's plea seeking to quash the FIR registered against him in May 2023 by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on charges of corruption and bribery.
Ponda told a bench of Chief Justice Shree Chandrashekhar and Justice Suman Shyam that Wankhede never demanded or took a bribe from Shah Rukh Khan.
As per the CBI FIR, Wankhede and the other accused in the case allegedly demanded Rs 25 crore from the actor to give a clean chit to his son in the drugs case.
However, Ponda told the court on Monday that the CBI has no evidence to establish that Wankhede demanded or received any bribe.
The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) had received a tip-off about alleged drugs on the cruise ship Cordelia. A search was conducted in accordance with the law and a few persons, including Aryan Khan, were arrested, the counsel added.
The high court said it would continue hearing the plea further on Tuesday.
The CBI had registered the case against Wankhede and others on charges of criminal conspiracy (Indian Penal Code section 120-B), and threat of extortion (388 IPC), as well as 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 charge sheet in the case against 14 accused, but gave a clean chit to Aryan Khan.
The much-hyped case took a twist in 2021 when an 'independent witness' claimed that an NCB official and other persons, including a witness, demanded Rs 25 crore to let off Aryan Khan.
The NCB later conducted an internal vigilance probe against Wankhede and others and shared the contents with the CBI, leading to the registration of the case against him.
Based on the CBI's FIR, the Enforcement Directorate also registered a case against Wankhede, accusing him of money laundering.
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Fully confident of winning bypolls to 2 Assembly constituencies in Karnataka: CM Siddaramaiah
Davangere (Karnataka) (PTI): Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Monday asserted that he was one hundred per cent confident that Congress will win by-polls to two Assembly Constituencies in the state, claiming the BJP will face defeat, similar to what they experienced in earlier byelections.
He also played down the disgruntlement among the other ticket aspirants in the Congress, saying that everyone will be convinced and come together to ensure the party's victory.
Bypolls for the Bagalkot and Davanagere South Assembly constituencies will be held on April 9. The polls were necessitated following the deaths of senior Congress MLAs H Y Meti and Shamanur Shivashankarappa, respectively.
"I'm one hundred per cent confident that we will win both seats. BJP may claim that they will win, but where have they won? They had made similar claims in the previous bypolls, didn't we defeat sons of former CMs Basavaraj Bommai and H D Kumaraswamy?" Siddaramaiah asked in response to a question.
Speaking to reporters here, he said the BJP may claim things, but the Congress government has fulfilled its promises and walked the talk by implementing five guarantee schemes.
"People of the state are in our (Congress) favour. We have proved it in the previous byelections. People, including Dalits, backward class people, poor, farmers and minorities -- all of them are with us," he added.
When questioned about claims by some BJP leaders that the bypoll results would indicate the outcome of the 2028 Assembly polls in the state, the CM asked, "When they won't win, what indicator is that?"
"We are in power, we won three by-elections earlier, and I'm confident that we will win these by-elections too," he added.
Congress in November 2024 had swept the by-polls to three Assembly constituencies -- Sandur, Shiggaon and Channapatna.
Responding to a question, Siddaramaiah claimed that the BJP will face defeat in all four states -- Assam, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, and the union territory of Puducherry -- which are going for polls.
After several rounds of discussion amid stiff competition for the party tickets, Congress on Sunday announced Umesh Meti and Samarth Mallikarjun as the party candidates for Assembly by-polls to Bagalkot and Davangere South assembly constituencies, respectively.
The Congress gave tickets to family members of the late legislators in both constituencies. While Umesh Meti is the son of H Y Meti, Samarth Mallikarjun is the grandson of Shamanur Shivashankarappa.
Expressing confidence that the disgruntlement within the party, following candidate selection, especially in the Davangere South constituency, will be resolved, the CM said, adding that the candidate selection was a unanimous decision by the party.
Pointing out that ticket aspirant Sadiq Pailwan has announced he will contest as a rebel in Davangere South, he said, "We will try and convince him."
When asked whether Muslims would be compensated, Siddaramaiah said, "Nothing has been discussed, but we will try to give representation to minorities."
There was a strong demand from Muslims for the Davangere South ticket, as the community has a significant presence in the constituency. Some factions within Congress had opposed giving the ticket to the Shamanur family.
