In the upcoming Maharashtra Assembly elections, many new faces can be seen contesting. One such important name which is doing the rounds is country's most famous and high-profile IRS officer, Sameer Wankhede. The IRS officer made to news headline after he was booked by the CBI in May 2023 on charges of seeking a Rs 25 crore bribe for not framing Shah Rukh Khan's son Aryan Khan in the drugs-on-cruise case.
If sources are to be believed, the IRS officer is expected to join Eknath Shinde's Shiv Sena faction from Dharavi seat.
Wankhede and others were booked under sections 120-B (criminal conspiracy) and 388 (threat of extortion) of the Indian Penal Code besides provisions under the Prevention of Corruption Act on a complaint from the NCB. Aryan Khan was arrested in the alleged drug bust case on the Cordelia cruise ship on October 2, 2021.
Later, the NCB filed a chargesheet in the drugs-on-cruise case against 14 accused but gave a clean chit to Aryan. The much-hyped case took a twist when an 'independent witness' claimed in 2021 that Rs 25 crore was demanded by an NCB official and others to let off Aryan Khan. The NCB later conducted an internal vigilance probe against Wankhede and others and shared the contents with the CBI leading to the registration of a case against him.
