Bombay HC grants protection from coercive steps till Feb 28 to Sameer Wankhede in liquor license case

A division bench of Justice S S Shinde and Justice Nitin R Borkar was hearing Wankhede’s plea against the FIR calling it “arbitrary” and “motivated ” and there is no case made out against him by the police.

Wankhede, through senior counsel Aabad Ponda and advocate Niranjan Mundargi, submitted that he will extend full cooperation in the investigation till the matter is heard by regular bench and pleaded for interim protection of no-coercive steps.

Ponda also submitted that the punishment prescribed in said offences is not more than seven years of imprisonment and there is no case for FIR in this as Wankhede was minor then.

Chief Public Prosecutor Aruna Pai for state submitted that notice under section 41A of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC), which mandates the investigating officer to issue a notice of appearance before the arrest has been issued to Wankhede to appear before Police on Wednesday, February 23 and question of arrest would not arise.

“Since the regular bench is not available for hearing this matter which pertains to that Court, it was mentioned before this Court. Heard the parties without entering into merits of the case submitted by both parties. Registry may place the matter before the regular Bench on February 28. In light of the peculiar facts and circumstances for the limited period, after appearance before the police, the officer can proceed under Section 41A (1) and (2) of the CrPC. However till the next date, the officer shall not invoke subsection (3) and (4) of 41A. This limited relief is till the next date. In the event of extreme urgency, both parties are at liberty to move the Court,” the bench noted in the order.

The FIR has been registered at Kopari police station in Thane for giving false information on oath, cheating and forgery among other sections of the IPC based on a complaint lodged by an excise department official on Saturday evening who claimed that Wankhede posed as an adult to get the licence.

According to the police, Wankhede misled the government by submitting a false affidavit about his age in order to obtain the liquor sale licence. The Police said that while submitting the application for the licence in February 1997, a date was not mentioned but the affidavit and stamp paper said that Wankhede was an adult.

However, the excise department claimed that as per Wankhede’s birthdate, he was not 18 years old at the time and misled the department by wilful misrepresentation.

NCP leader and state cabinet minister Nawab Malik had earlier claimed that Wankhede owns a bar called Hotel Sadguru in Navi Mumbai. He had alleged that the Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer was only 17 years old when he received the licence for the bar.

Wankhede was in the news after he as NCB director raided a Cordelia cruise ship last year and arrested actor Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan Khan and others. He is currently working with the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI).