Cruise drugs case: Police appoint officer to probe allegations against NCB investigator Wankhede
According to news agency ANI, the Mumbai Police officer will probe all allegations against Wankhede so far. Four police stations in Mumbai have received complaints against the top NCB official.
The Mumbai Police appointed an ACP-level officer to probe the allegations levelled against Narcotics Control Bureau's zonal head Sameer Wankhede, the lead investigator in the cruise drugs raid case in which actor Shah Rukh Khan's son Aryan has been arrested.
According to news agency ANI, the Mumbai Police officer will probe all allegations against Wankhede so far. Four police stations in Mumbai have received complaints against the top NCB official.
The pivot of the October 2 cruise drugs case has shifted from Aryan Khan to Sameer Wankhede. Prabhakar Sail, a key witness in the case, has levelled allegations of corruption against Wankhede.
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In an affidavit filed before a local Mumbai court on Sunday, Sail claimed he heard private KP Gosavi -- who reportedly accompanied the NCB team during the raid on the cruise ship off Mumbai coast on October 2 -- speak about a pay-off of ₹8 crore to Sameer Wankhede in the drugs raid case. The top NCB officer, however, denied the allegations.
Sail also claimed to have overheard Gosavi and one Sam D'Souza trying to settle the cruise ship drugs seizure case allegedly for ₹18 crore.
Meanwhile, Maharashtra minister and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Nawab Malik has levelled several other charges against Wankhede, including use of a fake caste certificate to get a government job under a reserved quota.
The minister also said that he received a letter from an unnamed NCB official which stated that Wankhede framed innocent people in 26 fake drug cases. Malik said he has forwarded the letter to NCB's director-general SN Pradhan. However, the anti-narcotics cell has refused to probe the anonymous letter.
In a fresh attack on Wednesday, the Maharashtra minority minister tweeted a copy of Sameer Wankhede's 'Nikah Nama' or marriage certificate and the top NCB official's photograph with his first wife, Shabana Qureshi.
“On Thursday 7th December 2006 at 8 pm, a Nikah was performed between Sameer Dawood Wankhede and Sabana Qureshi at LokhandWala complex, Andheri (west) Mumbai,” Malik tweeted.
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"Meher amount was ₹33,000. Witness no 2 was Aziz Khan Husband of Yasmin Dawood Wankhede, elder sister of Sameer Dawood Wankhede," he said in a subsequent tweet.
Malik pointed out that his expose of Sameer Wankhede has nothing to do with the latter's religion but to highlight the fraudulent means by which he obtained a caste certificate to get a job in the Indian Revenue Services (IRS).
Meanwhile, Wankhede has denied all allegations against him and said that he will fight the Maharashtra minister legally. Wankhede also said that he is being targeted and is ready for a probe into the allegations.