Wankhede, a 2008-batch Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer of the Customs and Indirect Taxes cadre, in his plea said the ED's case "smacks of malice and vendetta". The petition filed on February 6 through advocates Karan Jain, Sneha Sanap and Aditya Targe sought for the ED case to be quashed and an interim order to be passed granting him protection from any coercive action.