Mumbai, May 19 (IANS): The Bombay High Court on Friday directed the Central Bureau of Investigation to refrain from taking any coercive action against Narcotics Control Bureau ex-Mumbai Zonal Director Sameer Wankhede in the alleged Rs 25-crore bribery case pertaining to the arrest of Aryan Khan after the cruise ship drugs raid.

A vacation bench comprising Justice Sharmila Deshmukh and Justice Arif Doctor also said that prima facie, there was a legal bar under the Prevention of Corruption Act, Section 17A, mandating the probe to be completed within four months of the alleged offence that had occurred in 2021.

However, since the notice is issued under Section 41A, the judges restrained the CBI from any coercive action against Wankhede till Monday, May 22, when his matter would come up for hearing, according to the IRS officer's lawyer, Rizwan Merchant.

On his part, Wankhede said that he had complete faith in the country's judiciary and the Central government to give him justice in the false case in which he was being implicated.