Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) Zonal Director Sameer Wankhede, who is facing a slew of allegations ranging from bribery, extortion and questions over his ‘extravagant’ personal lifestyle, has been removed from his role as the lead investigator in the Mumbai drugs bust case in which Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan Khan is an accused. LIVE UPDATES
When contacted, Wankhede seemed to downplay the development and said that the move was in line with his demand for a central probe in the Mumbai drug bust case. “I am still the Zonal Director of NCB Mumbai. A writ petition was filed by me in the high court for an independent probe by a central agency, and now a senior officer has been appointed. Cases in which I had problems have been handed over. The other cases are still with the NCB,” he said.
According to information accessed exclusively by CNN-News18, top sources in Delhi said that an order taking Wankhede off the probe has already been issued and that the NCB Director General has also decided to transfer five other high-profile cases from the anti-drug agency’s Mumbai zonal unit to its central team.
Wankhede currently heads the agency’s Mumbai zonal unit.
“A total of six cases of our zone will now be investigated by Delhi teams (of NCB), including Aryan Khan’s case and five other cases. It was an administrative decision,” ANI quoted Mutha Ashok Jain, Deputy DG, South-Western Region, NCB, as saying.
The IRS officer is in the eye of a political storm after NCP leader and Maharashtra minister Nawab Malik accused him of forging documents to get a government job, lying about his religion and arresting people in “bogus” drugs cases. Wankhede has denied all allegations.
Sources told CNN-News18 that a Special Investigation Team (SIT) has been formed to oversee the transferred cases.
“These five cases are likely to have national and international ramifications and may involve inter-state linkages,” said an official.
Wankhede had on Monday visited the central anti-narcotics agency’s headquarters in Delhi and met senior officers. He was seen entering the NCB head office soon after he met National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC) chairperson Vijay Sampla.
NCB deputy director-general (northern region) Gyaneshwar Singh is conducting a departmental vigilance probe into allegations of extortion made in the drugs-on-cruise case in which Wankhede and his team had arrested Aryan Khan and seven others on October 3 from the international cruise terminal in Mumbai.
At least 20 people have been arrested in this case till now. Prabhakar Sail, an independent witness in the cruise drugs case, had claimed and filed an affidavit that there was an extortion bid of Rs 25 crore by some agency officials and others for letting off Aryan Khan from the case.
NCB sources were, however, also quick to rally with their colleagues and said that Wankhede is a ‘seasoned officer with a vast investigation experience’.
“He has been removed from a few cases. These are mainly about international ramifications. Any shift of case shouldn’t be taken otherwise. We value Sameer as an officer and have nothing against him so far,” said an officer.
Now, the probe will be handled by Senior IPS officer Sanjay Singh, sources said.
Sanjay Singh is Deputy Director General (Operations), NCB.
“The idea behind shifting these sensitive cases is to see them in a completely transparent prism of facts and evidence. The Central Unit will avoid unnecessary controversy around high-profile cases like Aryan Khan’s,” said an officer privy to the development.
Sanjay Singh and his team are likely to reach Mumbai on Saturday to take over the probe.
Soon after the development, Malik tweeted: “There are 26 cases in all that need to be probed. This is just the beginning… a lot more has to be done to clean this system and we will do it.”
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