India’s premier investigation agency, the CBI, has registered a corruption case against Sameer Wankhede, the then Zonal director of the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB). According to the CBI, the offence has been registered in connection with the arrest related to the Aryan Khan drug case. Along with Mr Wankhede, two officers of the NCB and two private persons have also been booked by the CBI.
Sameer Wankhede has not commented anything on the FIR registered against him by the CBI.
Today, searches were carried out at 29 locations in Mumbai, Delhi, Ranchi, Chennai, Guwahati and Lucknow. According to the sources in the agency, it is alleged that the officers had entered into a criminal conspiracy and had allegedly obtained an undue advantage in the form of a bribe from the alleged accused.
In October 2021, Aryan Khan, son of Bollywood actor Shahrukh Khan was arrested by the team led by Sameer Wankhede in a drug-related case.
In a statement released to the media, the CBI says, “It has also been alleged that the NCB officers entered into a conspiracy to extort Rs. 25 crores from the family members of the alleged accused. By threatening them with the accusation of offences of possession of Narcotics Substances as per the alleged directions of the then Zonal Director being the Supervisory Officer.”
The agency further states a token amount of Rs 50 lakhs was allegedly obtained in furtherance of this conspiracy by the said persons.
The team led by Sameer Wankhede had raided a cruise ship offshore of Mumbai and had detained Aryan Khan with other accused on the suspension of possessing and consuming drugs. Later Aryan and 17 other accused were arrested by the NCB under various sections of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substance Act (NDPS).
The NCB had alleged that Aryan was part of an international drug syndicate and should not be released on bail. The anti-drug agency had even accepted in the court that no drugs were found in possession of Aryan Khan while he was detained at an international cruise terminal just before boarding the cruise.
After spending 22 days in prison, Aryan Khan was granted bail by the Bombay High Court.
Aryan’s arrest had spared a political row in Maharashtra. Nawab Malik, spokesperson of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) had raised several questions about how Aryan was arrested. He had alleged Aryan was being made a scapegoat by Sameer Wankhede and his team to extort money. While addressing the media, Sameer Wankhede dismissed all the allegations stating he had not done anything wrong, and the arrest was made per the procedure.
One of the panch witnesses in the Aryan Khan case, Prabhakar Sail, had also accused Sameer Wankhede and his colleague Kiran Gosawi of extorting money from the family. In an affidavit filed before the court, Sail had said, “He was made to sign blank papers by the NCB officers on the behest of Sameer Wankhede.”
The storm over Aryan’s arrest didn’t die down soon. After the controversy, an internal investigation was launched by the NCB against Sameer Wankhede and the team of officers. After conducting a thorough inquiry, the vigilance team of the NCB submitted its report, highlighting several lapses in the probe carried out by Sameer Wankhede.
Sameer Wankhede was transferred and his deputy Superintendent Vishwas Vijay Singh was placed under suspicion.
Mayank Bhagwat 