Aryan Khan case: Witness planned Rs. 25cr extortion, says CBI

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI)—which is probing corruption allegations in connection with the Aryan Khan drugs-on-cruise case—has revealed that "independent witness" KP Gosavi planned to extort Rs. 25cr from his family. Earlier, the CBI filed an FIR against former Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) officer Sameer Wankhede for reportedly seeking a Rs. 25cr bribe in order to not frame Aryan in the case.

• This comes after the CBI filed a corruption case against Wankhede on Friday and raided numerous locations in connection with the case.
• In October 2021, Aryan was apprehended by Wankhede in the alleged Cordelia Cruises drug bust case.
• Wankhede—then NCB Mumbai zone chief—was dismissed in 2022 after a Special Investigation Team (SIT) probe discovered inconsistencies in the raid and handed Aryan a clean chit.

Besides revelations about Gosavi, the CBI's First Information Report (FIR) mentioned Wankhede's foreign trips and purchase/sale of expensive wristwatches with a private entity. It flagged Wankhede for not explaining his foreign visits and mis-declaring the expenditure on the same. Moreover, investigations into allegations against Wankhede and ex-NCB intelligence officer Ashish Ranjan reportedly "could not sufficiently justify their acquired assets as per their declared income."

On Gosavi, the CBI FIR said he was "allowed to be present in the company of accused persons and even allowed to come to the NCB office after the raid, which is against the norms for an independent witness." "In this manner, [Gosavi] took the freedom and clicked selfies and recorded the voice note of an accused (Aryan)," NDTV quoted the FIR as saying.

Furthermore, the CBI claimed Wankhede asked NCB superintendent Vishwa Vijay Singh to let Gosavi handle the accused (Aryan) while bringing him to the NCB's Mumbai office from the cruise ship. It also said Wankhede thereby allowed Gosavi and others a freehand "to create a visual impression of Gosavi having the custody of the accused and escorting him" to the NCB office.

The CBI FIR also stated that, in October 2021, Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan and his family were threatened that his son Aryan would be framed in the alleged Cordelia Cruises drug bust case. Further detailing the alleged conspiracy to extort money, the FIR said an amount of Rs. 25 crore was demanded from the Khan family.

On Friday, the CBI raided Wankhede's home and other premises linked to him in connection with the case. As part of its investigation, the central probe agency also conducted raids at nearly 30 other locations in Jharkhand, Mumbai, Delhi, and Uttar Pradesh. Notably, Wankhede raided a Cordelia Cruises ship and arrested Aryan, among others, in connection with the alleged narcotics case.