Cruise ship drug bust bribery case: HC extends Wankhede’s interim protection from arrest till Sep 7

A bench of Justice Nitin W Sambre and Justice Rajesh S Patil said it would hear Wankhede’s plea on September 5 after it was told that he would argue on the date and that Solicitor-General Tushar Mehta would appear for the central agency on September 7.

Last month, Wankhede sought directives from the court to bar the CBI from giving any information about the investigation to the media.

Wankhede, through senior advocate Aabad Ponda, claimed before a bench led by Justice A S Gadkari, which was earlier hearing the case, that as per Section 7A of the amended Prevention of Corruption Act, the bribe giver should also be prosecuted along with the bribe taker.

He had added that while Section 13 of the Act mentions disproportionate assets as an offence, the CBI had not charged Wankhede under the section.

Ponda had also argued that while sanction to prosecute was granted by the Union home ministry, Wankhede had been employed under the finance ministry throughout his career. Therefore, the sanction under section under 17A of the Act was not proper and was without authority, he argued.

The CBI opposed the plea and said it had not passed on any information and that an inquiry would be conducted to ascertain the facts.