Sameer Wankhede the Narcotics Control Bureau official who gained both fame and infamy during the investigation of the Aryan Khan drugs case, has broken his silence about his conversations with Shah Rukh Khan during the case. Aryan was arrested in 2021 on charges of possession and consumption of drugs but later cleared of all charges.
Wankhede, who was NCB’s Mumbai Zonal director till 2023, was in charge of the investigation into the case where Aryan was one of the suspects. In May 2023, Wankhede submitted an affidavit in court showing purported chats between himself and Aryan’s father – actor Shah Rukh Khan, where the actor seemed to plead him to let his son go.
In a recent interview to Lallantop, he spoke about the chats. “I won't talk about him (Shah Rukh). But whenever we take action against someone (in a drugs-related case), we feel bad for their parents and relatives. Especially if that person has consumed (the drugs) or is in a habit of it. You feel that the person must be sent to rehab,” said Wankhede.
The officer also refused to comment on why he chose to submit those chats to the court, saying that the matter was sub-judice and hence he would not want to say anything about it.
Aryan, the son of superstar Shah Rukh, was arrested from a cruise ship off the coast of Mumbai in October 2021 along with six others and spent three weeks in custody. He was eventually cleared of all charges and given a clean chit after NCB did not name him as an accused in the charge sheet. In 2023, several NCB officials, including Wankhede were charged with corruption and extortion in connection with the case. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has alleged that the drug charges were part of a false scheme to blackmail the Khan family.
