Overview
- The Bombay High Court division bench of Justices Ajay Gadkari and Kamal Khata admitted Sameer Wankhede’s petition and on Thursday granted interim relief preventing the NCB from summoning him for questioning until the case is finally decided.
- The NCB had issued eight notices between November 2023 and March 2024 asking Wankhede to appear before Deputy Director General Sanjay Singh as part of preliminary enquiries that the agency says began after two anonymous complaints.
- Wankhede says the enquiries are politically motivated and linked to a feud with former Maharashtra minister Nawab Malik after the arrest of Malik’s son-in-law, and he has described the actions as an act of vengeance.
- Separately, the Central Bureau of Investigation registered extortion and bribery charges against Wankhede in May 2023 over the 2021 Cordelia cruise case and the Enforcement Directorate later filed a money‑laundering case; Wankhede has earlier secured interim protection from coercive action in those matters.
- The court’s interim order shields Wankhede from administrative questioning but does not end the CBI and ED criminal probes, and the final hearing will shape how courts review agency enquiries started on the basis of anonymous allegations.