Wanted Matter To Be Investigated By Central Agency, Not Removed As Probe Officer: Sameer Wankhede

An NCB team led by Sameer Wankhede in October allegedly seized drugs onboard a cruise ship off the Mumbai coast following which superstar Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan Khan and some others were arrested.

File Photo

New Delhi: In a major development in the drugs-on-cruise case, a Delhi operations team of the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) will now take over the investigation of the matter.

Mutha Ashok Jain, Deputy Director-General of NCB’s South-Western Region, on Friday informed that a total of their six cases, including the drugs-on-cruise case and five other cases, have been transferred to its operations unit based in Delhi. "It was an administrative decision," he said.

This comes as NCB Zonal Director Sameer Wankhede is facing a number of personal and service-related allegations amid the investigation in the October 2 cruise raid case.

Meanwhile, talking about the development, Sameer Wankhede told news agency ANI: "I have not been removed from the investigation. It was my writ petition in court that the matter be probed by a central agency. So Aryan case and Sameer Khan case are being probed by Delhi NCB’s SIT. It is in coordination between NCB teams of Delhi and Mumbai".

"A team of Delhi NCB is arriving in Mumbai tomorrow after the decision that six cases of Mumbai zone, including Aryan Khan’s case and five other cases, will now be investigated by them," he informed.

The clarification comes after Maharashtra minister Nawab Malik claimed that Sameer Wankhede was "removed from 5 cases including the Aryan Khan case".

"This is just the beginning... a lot more has to be done to clean this system and we will do it," he wrote in a tweet.

Sameer Wankhede removed from 5 cases including the Aryan Khan case.
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.

— Nawab Malik نواب ملک नवाब मलिक (@nawabmalikncp) November 5, 2021

Early rumours suggested that NCB officer Sanjay Singh will take charge as the Mumbai Zonal Director, replacing Sameer Wankhede. However, NCB has clarified that "no officer or officers have been removed from their present roles".

"No officer or officers have been removed from their present roles and they will continue to assist the Operations Branch investigation as required until any specific orders are issued to the contrary. It is reiterated that NCB functions across India as a single integrated agency," the central agency clarified, as quoted by ANI.

"SIT comprising officers from Ops Branch of NCB HQ constituted by Director General, NCB to take over a total of 6 cases from NCB Mumbai Zonal Unit which have national and international ramifications in order to conduct a deeper investigation to find out forward and backward linkages," it stated.

Drugs-On-Cruise Case

An NCB team led by Sameer Wankhede in October allegedly seized drugs onboard a cruise ship off the Mumbai coast following which superstar Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan Khan and some others were arrested on October 3.

In a major twist, NCB’s independent witness Prabhakar Sail had claimed that Rs 25 crore was demanded by an official of the NCB and other persons, including KP Gosavi, to let off Aryan Khan in the case.

Prabhakar Sail claimed that, after Aryan Khan was brought to the NCB office following the October 2 raid, he had overheard Gosavi telling one Sam D’souza over the phone about a demand of Rs 25 crore and “to settle at Rs 18 crore as they have to give Rs 8 crore to Sameer Wankhede”, news agency PTI had reported.

The NCB and Wankhede had rubbished these claims in their affidavits submitted to the NDPS court in Mumbai.