Cordelia Cruise case: Delhi High Court approves departmental action against Sameer Wankhede

New Delhi, 27 February. The Delhi High Court on Friday allowed continuation of disciplinary proceedings against IRS officer Sameer Wankhede in connection with the 2021 Cordelia Cruise drug case. A bench of Justices Anil Kshetrapal and Amit Mahajan allowed the Centre’s plea against the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) order that had quashed the disciplinary action taken against Wankhede in the case.

While delivering the verdict, the bench said, “The petition is accepted.” A detailed copy of the judgment is awaited. The central government had challenged the CAT order passed on January 19 which had quashed the ‘charge memorandum’ (charge sheet) issued to Wankhede by the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs on August 18, 2025.

Wankhede, a 2008 batch Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer, came into limelight when he allegedly demanded Rs 25 crore from the family of actor Shah Rukh Khan, son of Aryan Khan, by threatening to implicate him in the Cordelia Cruise drug scandal during his tenure in the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) of Mumbai in 2021. Wankhede filed an original application before the CAT challenging the disciplinary inquiry conducted against him by the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs.

Even after being relieved from NCB duties, a disciplinary inquiry was initiated for allegedly seeking confidential information from its legal department. It was also alleged that he had also sought “assurance” from the NCB legal officer to “change the direction” of the investigation.

The high court had on January 12 refused to interfere with the CAT order staying disciplinary action against Wankhede. However, the high court had asked CAT to make “sincere efforts” to decide on the main case on January 14 or within the next 10 days.