New Delhi, Feb 27 (PTI) The Delhi High Court on Friday allowed the continuation of disciplinary proceedings against IRS officer Sameer Wankhede in connection with the 2021 Cordelia cruise drugs case.
A bench of Justices Anil Kshetarpal and Amit Mahajan allowed the Centre’s plea challenging an order of the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT), which had quashed the disciplinary proceedings against Wankhede.
“This petition is allowed,” the bench said while pronouncing the verdict.
A detailed copy of the judgment is awaited.
The central government had challenged the CAT order dated January 19, which set aside the charge memorandum issued to Wankhede on August 18, 2025, by the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs.
Wankhede, a 2008-batch Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer, came into the spotlight for allegedly demanding Rs 25 crore from Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan’s family by threatening to implicate his son Aryan Khan in the Cordelia cruise drug bust case during his tenure with the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), Mumbai, in 2021.
Before the CAT, Wankhede had filed an original application challenging the disciplinary inquiry initiated against him by the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs for allegedly seeking confidential information related to the probe from the NCB’s legal department after he was relieved from the agency.
It was also alleged that he sought an “assurance” from the NCB’s legal officer to “steer the investigation.”
On January 12, the high court had refused to interfere with a CAT order staying the disciplinary proceedings against Wankhede. However, it had directed the CAT to make “sincere efforts” to decide the main matter on January 14 or within the next 10 days. PTI