NCB orders internal probe into high-profile officer, following allegations that he was paid Rs 8 crore in the cruise liner case
Sameer Wankhede has termed the allegations personal vendetta; (right) Prabhakar Sail, who has levelled the allegations of bribery
The Narcotics Control Bureau has ordered a vigilance probe into the claims of an Andheri resident, who claimed to be the personal bodyguard of panch witness KP Gosavi, and has accused the agency’s zonal director Sameer Wankhede of bribery in the Aryan Khan case. Through a video message and an affidavit, Sail has claimed that he had overheard talks that the NCB’s zonal director was to be “given” Rs 8 crore.
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The vigilance inquiry will be led by the agency’s Deputy DG Gyaneshwar Singh. “I have been entrusted with the task of investigating the allegations being made in this case, I will come to Mumbai on Tuesday and investigate the matter,” Singh told mid-day.
Aryan Khan in the custody of NCB
Through a video message and an affidavit, Sail has claimed that he had overheard talks that NCB’s Zonal Director Sameer Wankhede was to be “given” Rs 8 crore, on the day Aryan Khan was arrested following a drug bust on a cruise liner. Gosavi and Wankhede have rejected Sail’s allegations.
On Monday, Prabhakar Sail approached the Sahar police demanding protection. Earlier, he met Joint CP (Crime) Milind Bharambe. Acting on his request, the Mumbai police have given him protection. State Home Minister Dilip Walse Patil told media, “Prabhakar Sail had asked for security on which Mumbai police has provided him security. There is talk of NCB demanding a bribe through a witness, but till now no one has given a complaint to the police.”
No blanket order: court on NCB, Waknhede’s affidavits
Meanwhile, a special court said it cannot pass a blanket order barring courts from taking cognisance of the affidavit by Sail, an independent witness in the drugs-on-cruise case, levelling serious allegations against Wankhede. The court’s response came on two affidavits by Wankhede and NCB countering the allegations.
As per the NCB and its zonal director, the allegations were an attempt to create hurdles and scuttle the investigation in the case. The central agency had also sought the court to pass appropriate orders to ensure there is no tampering with the evidence or investigation in the case.
Special Judge V V Patil, designated to hear cases related to the Narcotics Drugs Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, saying, “Considering the nature of the relief claimed in the applications [affidavits], no such blanket orders can be passed. It is for the concerned court or authority to pass appropriate order at the relevant stage.” It also said the matter was sub-judice as the Bombay High Court is scheduled to hear the bail pleas of Aryan Khan and his co-accused on Tuesday.
Personal vendetta: Wankhede
As state minority minister Nawab Malik continues to attack Wankhede, the zonal director issued a press release saying the charges levelled against him are “defamatory in nature and unnecessary invasion of my family privacy”. It came after Malik shared on Twitter what looked like the officer’s birth certificate and seemed to suggest that Wankhede had used forged documents.
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