Desk Report
Publish: 06 Nov 2021, 11:27 pm
India's NCB officer Sameer Wankhede || Photo: Collected
Six cases being investigated by India's NCB officer Sameer Wankhede
- including the Aryan Khan drugs case - have been transferred out of the
agency's Mumbai unit amid allegations of extortion and a ₹ 8 crore payoff
linked to the case involving Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan's son, reports NDTV.
An SIT led by senior police officer Sanjay Singh, a 1996
batch officer from the Odisha cadre, will take over the Aryan Khan case, as
well another involving Maharashtra minister Nawab Malik's son-in-law.
Mr Malik, who has been relentless in his attacks on the
anti-drugs agency and Mr Wankhede, today said he had demanded an SIT probe to
investigate charges against the senior officer.
I had demanded an S.I.T probe to investigate Sameer Dawood
Wankhede for kidnapping of & ransom demand from Aryan Khan.
The Narcotics Control Bureau, in a statement released
yesterday evening, and signed by Sanjay Singh, has stressed: "No officer
or officers have been REMOVED from their present roles".
Shortly after news broke that the cases were being shifted,
Mr Wankhede told NDTV "I have not been removed from anywhere" and
that he had asked for the cases to be transferred out.
"I've not been removed from investigation. It was my
writ petition in the Bombay High Court that the matter be probed by a central
agency like the CBI or NIA. Based on that, a SIT has now been formed under the
leadership of a senior officer..." he told NDTV over the phone.
Sameer Wankhede is at the centre of a storm after
accusations from Nawab Malik and Prabhakar Sail, a NCB witness in the Aryan
Khan case, brought his record and handling of cases into question.
Last week, amid a flurry of criticism and scrutiny, the
anti-drugs agency publicly backed the senior officer, citing an "impeccable
service record... replete with honesty and integrity".
Simultaneously, however, the agency also initiated an
internal probe; a five-member team headed by Deputy Director-General Gyaneshwar
Singh did visit Mumbai last week, and took down Mr Wankhede's statement, but
left without speaking to Prabhakar Sail.
The agency's backing came after Mr Sail filed an affidavit
saying he overheard a conversation between his employer KP Gosavi (another
agency witness, whose selfie with Aryan after his arrest raised more questions
about the NCB's case), SRK's manager Pooja Dadlani, and a Sam D'Souza this
month.
Mr Sail said they discussed a ₹ 18 crore deal, of which ₹ 8
crore was for Mr Wankhede.
The NCB hit back with an affidavit of its own that said
allegations were being concocted to "malign the agency's image", and
Mr Wankhede denied all extortion and payoff charges.
He also wrote to Mumbai Police complaining about
"precipitate legal action" to "frame" him, and was told he
would be given three days' notice in the event of an arrest order.
Mr Wankhede filed an affidavit too, in which he claimed he
was being "personally targeted" - a reference to relentless attacks
by Mr Malik, who has, among other things, accused the NCB forging a caste
certificate and other documents to secure a government job.
In his most recent attack, he questioned Mr Wankhede's
honesty, pointing to "shirts worth ₹ 50,000" and alleging WhatsApp
chats between his sister and a drug smuggler were proof of a conspiracy.
Mr Wankhede said the chats were part of several in which his
sister, Yasmeen Wankhede, rejected an approach for representation because she
did not handle drug cases.
To news of Mr Wankhede being removed, Mr Malik tweeted
"this is just the beginning".
"Sameer Wankhede removed from five cases, including the
Aryan Khan case. There are 26 cases 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," the minister, scheduled to hold a presser on Sunday, wrote.
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Topic : NCB officer Sameer Wankhede
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