Cruise drug bust bribery case: Didn’t demand bribe from Shah Rukh Khan, others, Samir Wankhede to Bombay HC

Senior Advocate Aabad Ponda, appearing for Wankhede, claimed that “there was no demand” for a bribe by him, that “there is no receipt of money”, and that there was no case of anybody having paid him. Ponda said some private persons were claimed to have received amounts, and that they were unrelated to Wankhede.

“The case is somebody else has taken money,” Ponda argued, adding that the high court had asked CBI to show material evidence.

“The matter is now admitted, and they (CBI) have to now file a charge sheet or decide what the fate of the case is,” Ponda argued before a Division Bench of Chief Justice Shree Chandrashekhar and Justice Suman Shyam.

The Bombay High Court will continue hearing his plea on Tuesday, March 24.

Last year, the high court, while extending the earlier interim protection from arrest granted to Wankhede, said CBI may proceed to file a chargesheet after obtaining the court’s approval.

Aryan Khan was granted bail by the Bombay High Court in October 2021, nearly 26 days after the NCB raid on the cruise. Eventually, another NCB team that investigated the matter dropped his name from the chargesheet, citing insufficient evidence.

The CBI FIR against Wankhede and others was based on a report of the Special Enquiry Team led by then NCB deputy director general Gyaneshwar Singh, which was tasked with inquiring into alleged procedural lapses by NCB officials, including Wankhede.

Wankhede claimed before the high court that SET had sought to give a clean chit to Aryan Khan by “suppressing material information and evidence in violation of legal provisions,” and the FIR registered on its report was motivated, and it should be quashed and set aside.