A Special Investigation Team (SIT) comprising officers from the Operations Branch of the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) headquarters in New Delhi arrived in Mumbai on Saturday to take over six cases, including the drugs-on-cruise case from NCB Mumbai Zonal Unit that was being probed by Sameer Wankhede.
Speaking to the media at Mumbai airport, NCB Deputy Director General Sanjay Kumar Singh that they have taken the probe of over a total of six cases.
He further said that the team will take the assistance of NCB Zonal Director Sameer Wankhede.
“We have taken over a group of 6 cases. He (Sameer Wankhede) is the zonal director of Mumbai, we will definitely take his assistance in the investigation,” Singh said.
Speaking to ANI over the phone, an NCB official said that Wankhede is an Officer of Zonal Director Rank which is equivalent to the rank of a Deputy Inspector General (DIG) and such a senior officer does not become the investigating officer of any case.
“He/She just supervises any investigation of the zone. So it’s baseless to say that Sameer Wankhede will cease to investigate these six6 cases. Actually, he was never investigating these cases,” he said.
Commenting over the developments, Wankhede had his own inputs.
“I was never the investigating officer of the cases. I am still the zonal director. I have not been removed from my posts. In fact, I demanded in the petition to investigate the allegations over me by central agencies,” he stated.
“I have not been removed from the investigation. It was my writ petition in court that the matter be probed by a central agency. So [the] Aryan case is being probed by Delhi NCB’s SIT. It is in coordination between NCB teams of Delhi and Mumbai,” he said.
NCB Deputy Director South-Western Region General Mutha Ashok Jain said a total of six cases including Aryan Khan’s case and five others of the Mumbai zone will be now investigated by teams from Delhi. “It was an administrative decision,” Jain said.
According to sources, the Mumbai NCB team under Wankhede will not probe a case against Sameer Khan, son-in-law of Maharashtra Minister Nawab Malik.
Earlier on Tuesday, Wankhede said the drug mafia was trying to frame him and his family in false cases. He has been accused of extortion and forging documents to secure a government job.
Malik had alleged that Wankhede was born a Muslim but he forged documents, including a caste certificate to get recruitment under quota after clearing the UPSC exams.