Centre orders action against Ex-NCB officer Sameer Wankhede

Source: ANI

The government has ordered action against former NCB officer Sameer Wankhede for his alleged "shoddy" work while probing a 'drugs-on-cruise' case in which film star Shah Rukh Khan's son Aryan was arrested last year, official sources said on Friday.

Appropriate action is also being initiated against Wankhede for allegedly providing a fake caste certificate, they added.

Aryan Khan was given a clean chit by the Narcotics Control Bureau in the October 2021 'drugs-on-cruise' case on Friday.

Wankhede is an Indian Revenue Service officer and the finance ministry is the nodal authority to take the action against him.

The government has asked the competent authority to take appropriate action against Wankhede for his alleged "shoddy" investigation in the 'drugs-on-cruise' case, sources said.

Wankhede was then Mumbai zonal director of the NCB and handled the initial investigation after an anti-drugs raid on a cruise.

Aryan was arrested by the NCB on October 3 last year in the case.

He was granted bail on October 28 by the Bombay High Court which dismissed NCB's arguments and said it can not just rely on WhatsApp messages to make such grave allegations.

On November 6 last year, the NCB headquarters removed Wankhede from the probe and transferred the case from Mumbai to a Delhi-based SIT formed under its deputy director-general (operations) Sanjay Kumar Singh.

Officials of the NCB, which filed its chargesheet in a Mumbai court, said the names of Aryan and five others were not there due to "lack of sufficient evidence".

After the submission by the NCB, the office of Nawab Malik, a Maharashtra minister, tweeted that "now that #AryanKhan and 5 others get a clean chit. Will #NCB take action against #SameerWankhede his team and the private army? Or will it shield the culprits?."

According to reports, Wankhede is presently posted in the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), Mumbai.