What TV doesn't, print can't; we deliver.
What TV doesn't, print can't; we deliver.
Gyaneshwar Singh, the deputy director general of Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), who investigated the allegations against controversial officer Sameer Wankhede in the Mumbai drugs-on-the-cruise case involving superstar Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan, has been divested of the charge of the south-west region.
Singh was holding additional charge of the region which includes Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. Sachin Jain, who was the deputy director general at the anti-drug agency’s headquarters in Delhi, has been made the new in-charge of the region.
He had been looking after the NCB operations in the southwest region after IPS officer Mutha Ashok Jain complete his 5-year tenure with the agency in September this year and joined back his home cadre of Uttar Pradesh.
In October last year, Singh launched a probe into the allegations of irregularities in the Cordelia cruise ship drug bust off the Mumbai coast.
However, Singh will continue to be at the helm of the special vigilance team in the NCB. He holds of charge of north, west, and northwest regions that include UP, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh, Delhi, Chandigarh, Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh.
Last month, Singh submitted a 3000-page vigilance report to NCB director general SN Pradhan, pointing out numerous irregularities in the probe conducted by Sameer Wankhede, the then zonal director and his team. The report also raised questions on the intentions of the officers conducting the probe against the children of several high-profile persons.
The vigilance team led by Singh probed allegations of witness Prabhakar Sail who had claimed payoffs in the case. During the inquiry, the statements of 65 witnesses were recorded. However, some officers changed their statements later.
In his report, the senior officer recommended the initiation of departmental action against as many as seven NCB officers.
Notably, Wankhede had filed a complaint with the National Commission for Scheduled Castes a day before the findings of the vigilance enquiry were made public, alleging that Singh harassed and humiliated him during the special investigation. In its response, the commission had said that no action should be taken against Wankhede, who was also accused of teaming up with several private individuals to what many alleged extract money from Aryan and others until its investigation against Singh is completed.
In October last year, the cruise drugs case made national headlines with the overnight arrest of Aryan who was later charged with allegedly possessing, consuming and selling illegal drugs during a party.
However, charges against the actor’s son were dropped in May this year.
