Sameer Wankhede deposes before NCB vigilance panel in Delhi

Sameer Wankhede the Narcotics Control Bureaus former Mumbai zonal director on Sunday appeared before a departmental vigilance panel here that is investigating allegations of extortion against the agency tea that conducted the drugsoncruise raid leading to the arrest of actor Shah Rukh Khans son Aryan Khan and othersOfficial sources said Wankhede presented his version and official documents related to the raid which took place in October last year at the international cruise terminal in Mumbai before NCB Deputy Director General DDG for the northern region Gyaneshwar SinghHe and his team from NCB Mumbai had earlier too deposed before the vigilance panel and it is understood that the latest deposition is part of the process to conclude the inquiry following which a report will be submitted by the DDG to the NCB Director GeneralSingh a 1999batch IPS officer of Himachal Pradesh cadre is the chief vigilance officer CVO of the NCB and was tasked to conduct the probe after Prabhakar Sail an independent witness in the cruise drugs case had filed an affidavit claiming that there was an extortion bid of Rs 25 crore by some NCB Mumbai officials and others for letting off Aryan Khan in the caseTwenty people were arrested in this case and all of them are now out on bail including Aryan KhanSail had claimed that he overheard that Rs 8 crore bribe out of this money was to be paid to WankhedeSail was the bodyguard of a private person and another witness in this case K P Gosavi who is now in jail following his arrest by the Pune Police in a fraud caseGosavi was arrested by the police after the NCB cruise raid and the vigilance panel will also question him in jail before preparing its final reportSail had also claimed that he saw Gosavi meeting Shah Rukh Khans manager Pooja Dadlani post the Cordelia cruise raid and that he was asked to sign 910 blank pages in the presence of WankhedeWankhede had maintained that all due procedures were followed during the raid and the allegations were made to deter him from taking strong action against highprofile drug traffickersOther officials from the NCB Mumbai team involved in this case have also deposed before the DDG Singhled panel here this week sources saidSingh and his team had last year travelled to Mumbai to conduct an onspot investigation questioning and recording statements of all those involved including Wankhede his NCB Mumbai team Sail Aryan Khan and others The vigilance team also took possession of the NCB case documents and the seizure memoGosavis close proximity and photographs with Aryan Khan during the NCB raids had raised questions and the matter is part of the departmental vigilance probeThe tenure of Wankhede an Indian Revenue Service IRS officer of the 2008 batch with the NCB ended last month as he was not given an extension in the federal antinarcotics agency His services were then put at the disposal of his parent organisation DRIThe 42yearold officer served as the head or the zonal director of the NCB Mumbai unit from August 31 2020 during which he investigated numerous drugs cases including the one linked to the death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput and the one leading to the arrest of Maharashtra minister Nawab Maliks soninlawThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever