New Delhi: The tenure of IRS officer Sameer Wankhede with the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) is set to end on December 31 and he will not seek an extension, news agency ANI reported NCB as saying on Friday.
NCB informed that the Mumbai Zonal Director arrested 96 people and registered 28 cases between August to December 2020.
In 2021, he arrested 234 people, registered 117 cases, seized over 1791 kg drugs worth approximately Rs 1000 crore, and also froze properties valuing over Rs 11 crore, the central agency stated, as reported by ANI.
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Sameer Wankhede, a 2008-batch Indian Revenue Service officer, was on deputation to the NCB since September 2020 and is currently Mumbai zonal director of the central agency.
He was earlier posted with the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI).
Sameer Wankhede’s tenure as zonal director of NCB has been quite eventful as he was involved in action against the drug syndicates allegedly involving film celebrities in the aftermath of actor Sushant Singh Rajput’s death by suicide.
In October, a team led by him allegedly recovered drugs during a raid on a cruise ship off the Mumbai coast and arrested actor Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan along with others.
Sameer Wankhede’s name remained in controversy over the case as subsequently questions were raised about the credentials of independent witnesses used by the NCB during the raid. It was also alleged that there was an attempt to extort money from Shah Rukh Khan by NCB officials.
Notably, Maharashtra cabinet minister Nawab Malik has been attacking the NCB officer, alleging that he was born a Muslim but got his job in the Scheduled Castes quota by obtaining a bogus caste certificate while leveling several other accusations.
The Mumbai Zonal Director denied the allegation and his father also filed a defamation suit against the NCP leader.
(With Agency Inputs)