<p>Days after he was booked by the Central Bureau of Investigation for allegedly seeking a bribe of Rs 25 crore vis-a-vis the Cordelia drugs-on-cruise bust case involving Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan Khan, high-profile Indian Revenue Service officer Sameer Wankhede submitted WhatsApp chats in the Bombay High Court suggesting him to go slow on his son. </p>.<p>A vacation bench comprising of Justice Sharmila Deshmukh and Justice Arif Doctor has directed the CBI not to take any coercive action against Wankhede. </p>.<p>The WhatsApp chats are part of the petition filed by Wankhede. </p>.<p>However, the content of the chats could not be checked immediately.</p>.<p><strong>Also Read | <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/national/sameer-wankhede-moves-hc-seeking-quashing-of-cbi-fir-against-him-1220114.html " target="_blank">Sameer Wankhede moves HC seeking quashing of CBI FIR against him</a></strong></p>.<p>There are no immediate statements from Khan or his office on the issue. </p>.<p>During the hearing, the high court directed Wankhede to cooperate with the investigations and appear before the CBI office to record his statements, to which he agreed.</p>.<p>While Wankhede was represented by counsel Rizwan Merchant, the CBI was represented by counsel Kuldeep Patil.</p>.<p>On his part, Patil opposed Wankhede’s plea and said he should seek anticipatory bail.</p>.<p>NCP leader Nawab Malik, who was then a minister in the erstwhile Maha Vikas Aghadi government, had carried out a series of exposes on Wankhede and people close to him.</p>.<p>Wankhede, an officer of the 2008-batch IRS officer had faced several allegations.</p>.<p>A total of 20 persons were arrested during the 2-3 October, 2021 midnight raid and subsequent investigations. The NCB had seized 13 grams of cocaine, 5 grams of mephedrone, 21 grams of charas and 22 MDMA/Ecstasy pills during the raid on the Cordelia cruise from Mumbai to Goa.</p>.<p>The Bombay High Court, on 28 October, 2021, while giving bail to Aryan Khan, Arbaaz Merchant and Munmum Dhamecha, had observed: “There is hardly any positive evidence on record to convince this court that all the accused persons with common intention agreed to commit unlawful acts.”</p>.<p>In May 2022, Aryan Khan was given a clean chit by the NCB saying that the evidence was “insufficient”.</p>.<p>After this, the NCB also carried out an internal probe into the issue vis-a-vis the allegations against Wankhede. </p>.<p>It may be mentioned, besides Wankhede, others booked were the then NCB-Mumbai's Superintendent, Ashish Ranjan, then NCB-Mumbai's Intelligence Officer, two private persons KP Gosavi and Sanvile D'Souza among others.</p>
<p>Days after he was booked by the Central Bureau of Investigation for allegedly seeking a bribe of Rs 25 crore vis-a-vis the Cordelia drugs-on-cruise bust case involving Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan Khan, high-profile Indian Revenue Service officer Sameer Wankhede submitted WhatsApp chats in the Bombay High Court suggesting him to go slow on his son. </p>.<p>A vacation bench comprising of Justice Sharmila Deshmukh and Justice Arif Doctor has directed the CBI not to take any coercive action against Wankhede. </p>.<p>The WhatsApp chats are part of the petition filed by Wankhede. </p>.<p>However, the content of the chats could not be checked immediately.</p>.<p><strong>Also Read | <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/national/sameer-wankhede-moves-hc-seeking-quashing-of-cbi-fir-against-him-1220114.html " target="_blank">Sameer Wankhede moves HC seeking quashing of CBI FIR against him</a></strong></p>.<p>There are no immediate statements from Khan or his office on the issue. </p>.<p>During the hearing, the high court directed Wankhede to cooperate with the investigations and appear before the CBI office to record his statements, to which he agreed.</p>.<p>While Wankhede was represented by counsel Rizwan Merchant, the CBI was represented by counsel Kuldeep Patil.</p>.<p>On his part, Patil opposed Wankhede’s plea and said he should seek anticipatory bail.</p>.<p>NCP leader Nawab Malik, who was then a minister in the erstwhile Maha Vikas Aghadi government, had carried out a series of exposes on Wankhede and people close to him.</p>.<p>Wankhede, an officer of the 2008-batch IRS officer had faced several allegations.</p>.<p>A total of 20 persons were arrested during the 2-3 October, 2021 midnight raid and subsequent investigations. The NCB had seized 13 grams of cocaine, 5 grams of mephedrone, 21 grams of charas and 22 MDMA/Ecstasy pills during the raid on the Cordelia cruise from Mumbai to Goa.</p>.<p>The Bombay High Court, on 28 October, 2021, while giving bail to Aryan Khan, Arbaaz Merchant and Munmum Dhamecha, had observed: “There is hardly any positive evidence on record to convince this court that all the accused persons with common intention agreed to commit unlawful acts.”</p>.<p>In May 2022, Aryan Khan was given a clean chit by the NCB saying that the evidence was “insufficient”.</p>.<p>After this, the NCB also carried out an internal probe into the issue vis-a-vis the allegations against Wankhede. </p>.<p>It may be mentioned, besides Wankhede, others booked were the then NCB-Mumbai's Superintendent, Ashish Ranjan, then NCB-Mumbai's Intelligence Officer, two private persons KP Gosavi and Sanvile D'Souza among others.</p>