While many allegations on the NCB officer Sameer Wankhede have brought a twist in the Mumbai cruise drugs bust case, the Mumbai BJP has written to Maharashtra governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari seeking his intervention into the matter of "baseless allegations" being levelled by State Minister Nawab Malik againt the central agency and its official.
Amid allegations levelled up against Sameer Wankhede, Narcotics Control Bureau vigilance team and an ACP-level Mumbai Police officer have launched independent probes into the allegations of 'extortion' and other issues.
The NCB team arrived here this afternoon and is understood to have recorded Wankhede's statement besides summoning a 'Panch-Witness' Prabhakar Sail for probe. At least four complaints lodged against Wankhede in different police stations in Mumbai will now be handled by the ACP who will investigate and prepare his report in the matter.
"We have started the probe. This is a very sensitive investigation, too early to share anything. We shall inquire all aspects and later inform the media of the developments," NCB vigilance team member Dnyaneshwar Singh told mediapersons briefly.
The two independent probes follow the series of allegations against Wankhede coming vide Sail's affidavit of October 23, besides the serial exposes undertaken by Nationalist Congress Party Minister Nawab Malik in the past three weeks.
Among other things, Sail had claimed that another NCB 'Panch-Witness' was allegedly acting as a conduit to extort Rs 18-crore from Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan of which Rs 8-crore was reportedly intended for Wankhede.
In Mumbai, at least 4 separate complaints have been lodged against the NCB officer on various counts, which the ACP level officer will investigate.
(With agency inputs)