CBI leaking information in corruption case: Sameer Wankhede tells Bombay High Court

Former Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) zonal director Sameer Wankhede on Thursday alleged that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) was leaking information to the media about the people they were summoning in the corruption case against him.

Former Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) zonal director Sameer Wankhede on Thursday alleged that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) was leaking information to the media about the people they were summoning in the corruption case against him.

The probe agency had filed a case against Wankhede in May for allegedly demanding a bribe of Rs 25 crore from Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan in exchange for not framing his son Aryan Khan in the Cordelia cruise ship drugs case.

Wankhede’s lawyer, Abad Ponda, submitted news reports to the Bombay High Court which allegedly listed witnesses that the CBI was going to summon in Wankhede’s case. He claimed that the reports clearly indicated that the source of the information was someone within the investigating agency.

Ponda requested the court to pass orders directing the CBI not to speak about the case. “Wankhede had given an undertaking that he wouldn’t speak to the media. The reason given was that this is a sensitive case. But sanctity should be maintained on both sides,” Ponda pleaded.

The bench of Justices AS Gadkari and SG Dige agreed that the rules for not speaking about the case applied to the CBI as much as it did to Wankhede. “Rule made applicable to petitioner is equally applicable to you,” the bench told the CBI.

CBI lawyer Kuldeep Patil told the court that neither him, nor the investigating team had given out any information to the media. “Let me make a statement. Maybe it is the people who have been summoned who are telling, but till date my (investigating) officer has not spoken to the media. There is no (CBI) source”, said Patil.

The court looked through some of the news articles which had cited the CBI as its source and said, “Some press reporter has published it. He has done so with some responsibility. It is not done casually if they are saying it is a CBI source."

Patil then told the court that the CBI will conduct an enquiry to try and find out (if any) the source who could have leaked the information. “We are making a statement, we will conduct an enquiry, but till today we have not talked to the media, and we will not talk” Patil submitted.