Following Aryan Khan's acquittal from the cruise drugs case, the government has asked Competent Authority to take appropriate action against ex-NCB official Sameer Wankhede for his shoddy investigation into Aryan Khan drugs haul case. Govt has already taken action in the case of Sameer Wankhede's fake caste certificate case, ANI reported.
Former NCB officer Sameer Wankhede, the investigation officer in the Mumbai drugs-on-cruise case, will face action for allegedly submitting a fake caste certificate and "shoddy investigation" into the drugs case, the Home Ministry said today.
“It is learnt that the government has asked the competent authority to take appropriate action against former NCB official Sameer Wankhede for his shoddy investigation into the Aryan Khan drugs haul case. The government has already taken action in the case of Sameer Wankhede’s fake caste certificate case,” said sources.
Narcotics Control Bureau Deputy Director-General Sanjay Singh has also said that there was an error by the first probe team, led by Sameer Wankhede.
Based on input, the NCB in a statement on Friday said that its Mumbai branch on October 2 last year had intercepted Vikrant, Ishmeet, Arbaaz, Aryan and Gomit at the International Port Terminal of the Mumbai Port Trust (MbPT), and Nupur, Mohak and Munmun at the Cordelia Cruise. All the accused persons were found in possession of narcotics except Aryan and Mohak.
“Initially, the case was investigated by NCB Mumbai. Later, a Special Investigation Team from NCB headquarters in New Delhi, headed by Sanjay Kumar Singh, Deputy Director General (Operations), was constituted to investigate the case, which was taken over by the SIT on November 6 last year. The SIT carried out its investigation in an objective manner,” said the NCB.
The NCB further said that the touchstone of the principle of proof beyond reasonable doubt has been applied.
“Based on the investigation carried out by the SIT, a complaint against 14 persons under various sections of Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act is being filed,” NCB said.
The NCB statement further reads that the complaint against the rest of the six persons is not being filed due to the “lack of sufficient evidence”.
Meanwhile, over the fake certificate submission by Wankhede, NCP Minister Nawab Malik on Monday questioned whether the former Narcotics Control Bureau Zonal Director submitted a fake caste certificate to get a government job.
The Nationalist Congress Party's National Spokesperson Malik tweeted a purported birth certificate and marriage photo of the embattled Wankhede with telling captions: "Yahanse shuru hua farziwada (the fraud started here) and Pehchan Kaun (guess who)".
The birth certificate shows the NCB chief's name as 'Sameer Dawood Wankhede', and the picture is from his (Wankhede's) first wedding with one Dr Shabana Qureshi, and he later divorced her to get married to Marathi actress Kranti Redkar.
The NCP minister claimed that as per the birth certificate, Wankhede is a born Muslim but allegedly appeared for the civic services (UPSC) exams through a reserved category and became an Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer.
Wankhede has been fighting allegations made by Maharashtra minister Nawab Malik that the officer forged his caste certificate and other documents to secure a job as an IRS officer under the SC quota after clearing the Union Public Service Commission examination.
Wankhede headed the NCB's Mumbai zone and handled the initial investigation after an anti-drugs raid on a cruise off the Mumbai coast.
Meanwhile, the Narcotics Control Bureau on Friday cleared Aryan Khan, son of Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan, of all charges in the drugs-on-cruise case. Khan was also excluded in the charge sheet filed by the NCB related to the case.
Khan, 24, was arrested on October 3 last year in connection with the seizure of banned drugs onboard a cruise ship off the Mumbai coast.
(with ANI inputs)
