SET SAT ON EVIDENCE AGAINST SRK'S SON?

Superior nursed vendetta against me, says Wankhede; alleges ulterior motive in clean chit for Aryan

- URVI MAHAJANI

IRS officer and former Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) Zonal Director Sameer Wankhede has told the Bombay high court that the special enquiry team (SET) comprising NCB officers from Delhi, had an ulterior motive in giving a clean chit to actor Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan Khan and had suppressed material evidence against him. He has also contended that the SET report is ‘biased and has been prepared in order to wreak vengeance due to personal vendetta’ against him by senior officers of the anti-drugs agency.

Wankhede made the statements in an additional affidavit filed before the HC while refuting the allegations of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which claimed that it had prima facie evidence of extortion and corruption against Wankhede in the Aryan Khan bribery case. The CBI affidavit, which was filed on June 2, urged the court to recall the order of interim protection to Wankhede.

The CBI had registered an FIR against Wankhede and four others, for allegedly demanding Rs 25 crore from Shah Rukh Khan in order to not frame Aryan Khan in the alleged Cordelia cruise ship drug bust case of October 2021. The CBI had filed the FIR in May, stating that it was based on a written complaint by the NCB and relevant approvals.