CBI quizzes Wankhede in Rs 25-crore bribery case

New Delhi, May 20

The CBI on Saturday quizzed former Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) zonal director Sameer Wankhede at its Mumbai office for more than five hours in a case in which he is accused of demanding a Rs 25 crore bribe from superstar Shah Rukh Khan for not implicating his son Aryan in the Cordelia cruise drug bust case.

The IRS officer was given a lunch break of around 30 minutes at 2 pm. He returned to the CBI office and joined the questioning session. He left around 4:30 pm, the officials said. It was his first appearance before the agency after the case was registered by the CBI against him on a complaint forwarded by the NCB, the official said. The CBI had summoned him for questioning on Thursday in connection with the case, but he did not appear.

The anti-graft central probe agency booked Wankhede and four others on May 11 for alleged criminal conspiracy and threat of extortion under provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act. On Friday, Wankhede got a relief from the Bombay High Court, which directed the CBI not to take any “coercive action” against him till May 22.