In 2011, Sameer Wankhede Had Stopped Shah Rukh Khan At Mumbai Airport; Know Why

During that time, Wankhede was the assistant commissioner of customs stationed at the airport. Shah Rukh, who had at least 20 bags, was questioned for several hours.

New Delhi: The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) zonal director Sameer Wankhed has acted against several Bollywood celebrities while handling customs, service tax and narcotics operations in different capacities. Therefore, Aryan Khan’s arrest isn’t his first brush with Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan. It was more than a decade ago that the officer had stopped Shah Rukh at the Mumbai airport, and made the actor pay customs duty.

In July 2011, Shah Rukh Khan was stopped and interrogated by a team of airport customs department headed by Sameer Wankhede. Shah Rukh Khan was fined Rs 1.5 lakh for carrying excess luggage. Wankhede, reportedly stopped and questioned him for allegedly not declaring foreign goods that attracted duty.

The actor had arrived at Mumbai airport after a family vacation in Holland and London.

During that time, Wankhede was the assistant commissioner of customs stationed at the airport. Shah Rukh, who had at least 20 bags, was questioned for several hours, and his luggage was checked by Wankhede’s team for possible evasion of duty.

During his time with the airport customs, Wankhede also detained several other celebrities, including Minissha Lamba, Anushka Sharma, Katrina Kaif, Ranbir Kapoor, Mika Singh, Bipasha Basu, Anurag Kashyap, Vivek Oberoi, Rhea Chakraborty, Deepika Padukone, Shraddha Kapoor, Sara Ali Khan to name a few.

Meanwhile, Wankhede, who is the lead investigator of the cruise drugs case, is himself facing a slew of allegations. Maharashtra minister and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Nawab Malik, accused Wankhede of using a fake caste certificate to get a government job under reserved quota. Malik also said on Tuesday that he received a letter from an unnamed NCB official which stated that Wankhede framed innocent people in 26 fake drug cases.

On the other hand, Prabhakar Sail, a witness in the cruise drugs case in which actor Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan is arrested, has leveled corruption allegations against Wankhede.

The Mumbai Police had on Wednesday appointed an ACP-level officer to investigate the allegations levelled against Sameer Wankhede. All the complaints received against Wankhede will be probed by the officer. Four Police stations in Mumabai have received such complaints so far.