NEW DELHI/MUMBAI: A day after the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) transferred six cases including Aryan Khan’s drugs case from Mumbai to Delhi’s Special Investigation Team (SIT), a team of the drug law enforcement agency on Saturday arrived in Mumbai led by Sanjay Singh, Deputy Director General (DDG) operations.
Singh, a 1996 batch IPS officer of the Odisha cadre has earlier also had a stint of over 4 to 5 years in the country’s premier investigating agency – the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) as DIG.
CBI sources said that Singh has handled several high profile cases in the CBI while working in its Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB)-III.
Agency sources said that he also handled the Commonwealth games case.
Amid the allegations of bribery and corruption against its Mumbai Zonal Unit Director Sameer Wankhede, NCB DG SN Pradhan on Friday transferred six cases from Mumbai unit to Delhi unit also including that of Samir Khan, son-in-law of Maharashtra Minister and senior NCP leader Nawab Malik.
In a detailed statement, NCB DDG Singh said, “A Special Investigation team (SIT) comprising officers from Operations Branch of NCB Headquarters has been constituted by the Director General, NCB to take over a total of six cases from NCB Mumbai which have national and international ramifications, in order to conduct deeper investigation to find out forward and backward linkages.”
No officer or officers have been removed from their present roles and they will continue to assist the Operations Branch investigation as required until any specific orders are issued to the contrary. It is reiterated that the NCB functions across India as a single integrated agency
The NCB move came after several serious allegations were put on Wankhede.
Speaking to The New Indian on Friday evening over phone, Wankhede said, “I am still the Mumbai Zonal Director of the NCB. And I had even requested that these cases be transferred to Delhi Unit. So only the probe has been shifted with the Delhi NCB team.”
He said that he had earlier also requested for a central agency probe to probe the allegations of extortion and bribery by transferring the cases from Mumbai Police.
“It was also mentioned in my writ petition in court that the matter be probed by a central agency,” Wankhede added.
Wankhede came under scanner following the allegations levelled by a witness in the cruise ship case, Prabhakar Sail, of an extortion bid of Rs 25 crore by NCB and independent witnesses KP Gosavi to let off Aryan Khan.
WATCH: Narcotics Control Bureau stands by its 2008 batch-IRS officer Sameer Wankhade, says he has not been removed from any case including Aryan Khan drug probe even though all six cases shifted to Delhi !
This Is What Happened 🚓👮♀️👮: https://t.co/YRPNx6HtxK pic.twitter.com/jU4zNXLpr3
— The New Indian (@TheNewIndian_in) November 6, 2021
Gosavi was arrested by Pune Police in connection with a fraud case.
Even the NCB had ordered a vigilance probe against Wankhede, who has been probing the luxury cruise drugs case involving Aryan Khan.
The NCB Vigilance team led by DDG North Gyaneshwar Singh had also visited Mumbai and recorded the statement of Wankhede for over four hours.
Wankhede along with his team had carried out raids at Goa-bound luxury cruise ship on October 2. Aryan Khan along with seven others were arrested on October 3 in the case.
Even Malik had made serious allegations against Wankhede.
“I had demanded an S.I.T probe to investigate Sameer Dawood Wankhede for kidnapping of and ransom demand from Aryan Khan. Now 2 S.I.Ts are constituted (State and Centre), let us see who brings out the skeletons from the closet of Wankhede and exposes him and his nefarious private army,” Malik tweeted on Saturday.
Earlier, Maharashtra government had informed the Bombay High Court that it will not arrest Wankhede without giving him prior notice of three working days in connection with allegations of extortion and corruption levelled against him.
Wankhede had approached the High Court seeking transfer of the Mumbai Police’s probe into complaints of alleged extortion against NCB officers, including himself, to the CBI.
Aryan Khan was granted bail by the Bombay High Court last week. He came out of the Arthur Road Jail on October 30, two days after he was granted bail. He spent 22 days in prison in the case.