Former Mumbai Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) officer Sameer Wankhede, who has been accused of attempting to extort INR25 crore from Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan to secure the release of his son Aryan in a narcotics case, has produced conversations that he allegedly had with the superstar in an attempt to prove his innocence, Indian media reported on Saturday.
Aryan was arrested in October 2021 from a cruise along with some friends. Wankhede led an NCB team on a drugs raid during which the agency arrested Aryan and accused him of possessing and consuming drugs.
Son of Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan in custody in drugs probe
The Indian Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) filed an FIR on May 11 against Wankhede and two other NCB officers for allegedly trying to extort INR25 crore from Shah Rukh Khan to drop Aryan’s name from the case.
Wankhede filed a petition in court in response to the case against him and produced a set of conversations he claims he exchanged with Shah Rukh Khan.
In the alleged messages, the superstar is seen praising Wankhede’s integrity and pleading for his son’s release.
“Get your guys to go slow for Gods sake. I swear I will stand by you at all times to come and assist you with what all you are trying to achieve good. It’s a man’s promise and you know me enough to know I am good for it,” wrote Shah Rukh Khan allegedly, as reported by India Today.
“I beg you to please have mercy on me and my family. We are a simple set of people and my son has been a bit wayward, but he doesn’t deserve being in a jail like a hardened criminal. You also know that. Please have a heart man, please I beg you.”
Shah Rukh Khan elaborated on the case, writing how Aryan was caught in the cross-fire of people with vested interests. “I spoke as a father to them and even chided them that they are harming my kid in their selfish interest. Please man don’t make him pay” he wrote, according to Hindustan Times.
“You know his part is minuscule in it,” wrote the superstar allegedly, referring to his son, stressing on the need for a corrective course and that Aryan “has had his quota”, the report added.
“This will break him as a human being. His spirit will be destroyed,” the superstar allegedly wrote.