Against service rules to engage with family of accused, share chats: NCB on Wankhede-SRK interaction

The NCB questioned why an investigating officer would engage in such chats with the accused’s family without informing superiors or the vigilance team investigating his conduct.

It was also alleged that Wankhede failed to provide the phone used for the chats with Shah Rukh Khan and attempted to intimidate a senior NCB official when the latter took over the case.

Meanwhile, Wankhede, who has been accused by the CBI of demanding a bribe of Rs 25 crore – later reduced to Rs 18 crore – to avoid framing Aryan Khan in the “drugs-on-cruise” case, appeared before the CBI on Sunday morning for the second day of questioning. He had presented himself before the agency on Saturday and was questioned for nearly five hours.

Wankhede has approached the Bombay High Court to challenge the CBI’s actions against him in the bribery case, and the court will hear the matter on May 22. The high court has granted the officer protection from arrest till May 22 after he assured the court that he will cooperate in the probe and appear before the agency for questioning.