Won't arrest Sameer Wankhede till Feb 20 in money laundering case: ED to HC

Sameer Wankhede. File Pic

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday told the Bombay High Court it would not arrest Sameer Wankhede, former zonal director of Mumbai unit of Narcotics Control Bureau, in a money laundering case till February 20.

As per news wire PTI report, a division bench of Justices PD Naik and NR Borkar said due to paucity of time on Thursday and Friday and as courts are not working on Monday, February 19 it would not be able to hear the plea until Tuesday, February 20.

The ED has registered a money laundering case against Sameer Wankhede after taking cognisance of the CBI's First Information Report (FIR) where he was accused of demanding Rs 25 crore bribe from Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan's family to spare his son Aryan Khan in an alleged drugs case.

Wankhede, a 2008-batch Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer of the Customs and Indirect Taxes cadre, in his plea said the ED's case "smacks of malice and vendetta". Wankhede last week filed a petition in the HC seeking to quash the case lodged by the ED and, by way of an interim order, stay on the probe and protection from any coercive action.

The bench said the matter needs to be heard at length and asked advocate Sandesh Patil, appearing for the ED, to state if the agency intends to arrest Wankhede until then. Patil, after seeking instructions from the concerned officials, told the court the agency would not arrest Wankhede till February 20, reported PTI. The bench accepted the statement and posted the plea for hearing on February 20.

Patil submitted to the court that since the ECIR has been transferred to the ED's Delhi office, Wankhede should approach the court in Delhi as the cause of action lies in that jurisdiction, PTI report added.

Wankhede's counsel Aabad Ponda, however, said when the IRS officer had moved the Delhi court against the CBI's corruption and extortion case, which is the predicate offence (based on which ED launched its probe), he was asked to approach the Mumbai court. Ponda further said Wankhede was last year granted interim protection by HC from coercive in the CBI case and this continues, PTI report said.

The ED on Tuesday had informed the Bombay High Court that it had transferred the probe into a money laundering case against Sameer Wankhede form Mumbai zone director of the Narcotics Control Bureau, to its Delhi office.

(With PTI inputs)