Mumbai: Upping the ante against Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) Zonal officer Sameer Wankhede, Minority Affairs Minister Nawab Malik on Wednesday levelled another major allegation against him saying that he had proof that the NCB officer let an international drug lord, present at the rave organised off the Mumbai coast on a cruise ship, off the hook and instead, framed ‘certain individuals’.
“During the rave party, an international drug lord was present on the ship and the NCB officials, led by Sameer Wankhede, let him off the hook. The drug lord is a close friend of Wankhede. He should tell why he (Wankhede) let him (drug mafia) go,” Malik said. The minister claimed that he had the pictures and video footage to corroborate this and could share them with the NCB, if the agency were to approach him.
“A rave party was organised, drugs were sold, people enjoyed themselves there, but no action on the drug lord present at the party. Cruise was not stopped, over 1,300 people were not scanned. Instead, the NCB deployed people with pictures of certain individuals with the intention of wrongly framing them,” Malik said.
Malik said, “The rave party was held when Covid-19 protocols were in place. No permission was sought from Maharashtra Police or the state home department. The permission was granted by the Directorate General of Shipping.”
He also reiterated that drug seizure didn’t take place on cruise but was shown in Wankhede’s office. “No seizure was made either from the cruise or the terminal. The pictures of the seizure distributed by the NCB are from Wankhede’s cabin, based on which publicity was made,” he added.
“NCB kept saying it probes on the basis of electronic evidence. I demand the vigilance committee get the call detail records of Sameer Wankhede, Prabhakar Sail, Kiran Gosavi and Wankhede’s driver Mane. If an electronic probe is done, everything will be clear,” Nawab Malik said.
“They (NCB) first said they would intervene; by evening they said since the letter had no signature or name, hence no intervention. But given the allegations in the letter, if you still overlook it, it raises questions on the entire institution,” he added.
Malik has repeatedly termed the cruise drugs case as ‘fake’ and levelled various allegations against Wankhede, including illegal phone tapping. Wankhede has refuted the allegations and denied any wrongdoing.
