6 houses, a Rolex watch and multiple foreign trips: The lavish life of the Aryan Khan cop Sameer Wankhede

Trouble continues to brew for former Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) officer Sameer Wankhede. The cop, who rose to prominence in 2021 for arresting superstar Shah Rukh Khan’s son, Aryan Khan, in the Cordelia Cruises drug case, has come under the scanner for his lavish lifestyle, which has been revealed by the Special Enquiry Team (SET)’s report.
After being accused of allegedly demanding a bribe worth Rs 25 crore from Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan in the drugs-on-cruise case , it now seems that Wankhede lives way beyond his means – enjoying holidays in beautiful and exotic locales, buying exorbitant luxury items and owning multiple properties.
Here’s a closer look at what the report reveals about Wankhede’s lifestyle.
Wankhede’s riches
The SET report shows that Wankhede ’s average annual income as per his income tax filings was about Rs 15.75 lakh (salary and rent), his wife Kranti’s about Rs 7 lakh (business) and father’s (pension and rent) about Rs 3.45 lakh.
The report reveals that in the years between 2017 and 2021 he made six private foreign trips with his family. The destinations were far and wide – the United Kingdom, Ireland, Portugal, South Africa, and Maldives. These travels spanned across 55 days and cost Wankhede Rs 8.75 lakh – an amount that the SET notes doesn’t even cover air travel.
The report states that Wankhede enjoyed a 19-day visit in London but put down only Rs 1 lakh as the cost of the holiday. When asked about the low expenditure, 43-year-old Wankhede was quoted as saying, “I have relatives staying in Europe, and I did not stay at five-star hotels during these trips… so, there were no major expenses.”
Investigations now reveal that Sameer Wankhede owns assets beyond his declared income. File image/PTI
The report also tagged his Maldives visit in July 2021. Wankhede, his family, friend Viral Jamaluddin and maid stayed at the Taj Exotica with a bill that amounted to around Rs 7.5 lakh.
The SET report, according to Indian Express , said: Expenses for these declared private visits abroad have apparently been under-reported by Sameer Wankhede. In all these visits, the expenditure incurred towards travelling, lodging, boarding, visa, and miscellaneous expenditure declared by him was in between Rs 1 lakh and Rs 2.5 lakh, which is clearly wrong declaration or under-reporting.”
The SET also has questioned Wankhede on his purchase of a Rolex watch. He bought the exorbitant gold watch worth Rs 22 lakh from his friend Viral Jamaluddin for Rs 17.4 lakh on credit.
There’s also the matter of Wankhede’s properties. He owns four flats in Mumbai and a plot of land in Washim, Maharashtra. He has issued a clarification on his land owning, saying he has not four but six properties in Mumbai but all of them are inherited.
It’s important to note here that this isn’t the first time that there has been speculation about his lifestyle or clothes. In 2021, former Maharashtra minister and senior Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Nawab Malik alleged that the cop wore a pair of trousers worth Rs 1 lakh and a shirt costing over Rs 70,000. “How can an honest and upright officer claim to afford such expensive clothes,” Malik had said, adding. “He (Wankhede) extorted crores by wrongly framing people.”
At the time, Wankhede had dismissed the claims while his sister Yasmeen had said that Malik should get his “mental health checked.
Sameer Wankhede and his team had arrested Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan Khan in a drug raid in 2021. The superstar’s son was later given a clean chit and investigations had shown that he was selectively targeted. File image/PTI
Wankhede’s troubles
Sameer Wankhede , the 2008-batch IRS officer with stints in the National Investigative Agency (NIA) and Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), before being loaned as Director of the Narcotics Control Bureau, has had a chequered past.
His latest trouble is the CBI case alleging corruption. Last Friday (12 May), the CBI registered an FIR against Wankhede and the then Zonal Director of NCB (Mumbai Zone Unit); Vishwa Vijay Singh, then Superintendent (NCB); Ashish Ranjan, then Intelligence Officer of Mumbai Zonal Unit (NCB); K P Gosavi and Sanvile D’Souza (alleged witness).
Their crime, as per the central agency, is demanding a bribe worth Rs 25 crore from Shah Rukh Khan to settle Aryan Khan’s arrest in the drug case. This amount was later negotiated to Rs 18 crore by Gosavi and D’Souza and they had even taken a token amount of Rs 50 lakh in the matter.
The SET report also reveals that Aryan Khan and his friend Arbaaz Merchant were a last-minute addition while the names of some other suspects were dropped from the original information note. The report also states that there were a series of lapses in the investigation – the CCTV footage of the NCB office had gone corrupt. Also, the DVR and hardcopy of the night when Aryan was brought to the NCB office is different from what was submitted to the SET.
Since the Aryan Khan matter, Wankhede has been under investigation – either for his methods or for other controversies. Let’s just say, Wankhede is controversy’s favourite child.
With inputs from agencies
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