CBI questions model Munmun Dhamecha in corruption case against NCB officer Sameer Wankhede

New Delhi: The CBI Thursday questioned model Munmun Dhamecha, who was arrested with Shah Rukh Khan's son Aryan in a drugs case, in connection with its probe against former Narcotics Control Bureau officer Sameer Wankhede, officials said.

Dhamecha appeared before the investigation team at the CBI headquarters here this morning and her questioning is underway, the sources said.

They said she was among those arrested by the NCB along with Aryan Khan on October 3, 2021, a day after the raid on the Cordelia cruise ship.

It was alleged about 5 gram charas was recovered from Dhamecha during the NCB raid.

However, a special enquiry team (SET) of the NCB later red-flagged several lapses and irregularities in the operation on the cruise ship conducted under the "monitoring" of then NCB Zonal Director of Mumbai Sameer Wankhede.

The NCB had alleged that a private person, named K P Gosavi, and his aide Prabhakar Sail, since deceased, were included as independent witnesses in the cruise ship raid on October 2, 2021 on the directions of Wankhede.

Gosavi, his aide Sanvile D'Souza and others had allegedly entered into a conspiracy to "extort Rs 25 crore" from Aryan's family by "threatening them of the accusation of offences of possession of narcotics substances", the FIR in the case stated.

In order to let him walk free, Gosavi and D'Souza negotiated the amount bringing it down to Rs 18 crore and even collected a token of Rs 50 lakh and returned a part of the amount later, it has said.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) booked 2008-batch IRS officer Wankhede and four others -- Vishwa Vijay Singh, Intelligence Officer Ashish Ranjan, and two private persons K P Gosavi and Sanvile D'Souza -- for alleged criminal conspiracy (120-B IPC), and threat of extortion (388 IPC) besides provisions pertaining to bribery under the Prevention of Corruption Act on a complaint from the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB).