‘NCB Has Malafide Intentions, Involved In Selective Leaks To Frame People’: Maharashtra Minister Nawab Malik

Nawab Malik stated that his security was beefed up after he started getting “threats” when he raised doubts over the NCB’s investigations.

New Delhi: Maharashtra minister and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) spokesperson Nawab Malik has once again levelled accusations against NCB amid the recent raids conducted by the central agency, including on some high-profile people.

The anti-drugs agency has “malafide intentions” and is involved in “selective leaks” to frame people, Nawab Malik alleged on Thursday, as quoted by news agency PTI.

Addressing a press conference, the Maharashtra cabinet minister said that his son-in-law Sameer Khan, who was recently granted bail in a drugs case after nine months, will move the high court to seek quashing of charges put up against him by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB).

Nawab Malik alleged that the “NCB has malafide intentions and is involved in only selective leaks to frame people”.

He also stated that his security was beefed up after he started getting “threats” when he raised doubts over the NCB’s investigations.

About the bail order issued by an NDPS court in connection with the case involving his son-in-law Sameer Khan, Malik argued that there was “no prima facie evidence of a drug syndicate”.

It is surprising that an agency like the NCB cannot differentiate between drugs that fall under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act and tobacco-related items, the NCP leader said, as quoted by PTI.

“It (NCB) said ganja was seized (in the case involving Sameer Khan), but there was none. I just had to make things clear today after the bail order, since the BJP was targeting me over my son-in-law when I raised issues about the NCB’s fake case of the cruise drug party,” the NCP leader alleged.

A tweet on the NCP leader’s account read: “As per the court report Sameer Khan was detained under section 27A, which was not proven. How did NCB being such a big agency couldn't differentiate between tobacco and marijuana? It shows the Malafied intentions of NCB!”

He further said that his family has faced trauma and stigma due to the NCB.

“The stigma on me and my family in the past months cannot be justified. However, the court has stood with the truth and the false intentions of NCB has been revealed,” another tweet on his Twitter account read.

Sameer Wankhede’s Response

NCB’s Mumbai zonal director Sameer Wankhede responded to the allegations saying that the case is before a court.

“We respect the court and we don’t talk about the matter which is sub-judice,” Sameer Wankhede told PTI.

Nawab Malik’s son-in-law Sameer Khan was arrested by the NCB in January this year in an alleged drug case. He got bail last month.

Apart from the recent drugs bust onboard a cruise liner off the Mumbai coast, that led to the arrest of superstar Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan Khan, Sameer Wankhede last year investigated a drug case linked to the death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput and several other matters related to narcotics involving high-profile people.

The NCP leader had last week alleged that the NCB’s raid on the cruise ship off the Mumbai coast on October 2 was fake, and no narcotic drugs were found during it.

(With Agency Inputs)