Sameer Wankhede moved from drugs-on-cruise case, NCB says 'no officers removed'

Sameer Wankhede. Pic/Suresh Karkera

Narcotics Control Bureau's (NCB) top sleuth Sameer Wankhede, who was also the investigating officer of the drugs-on-cruise case in which superstar Shah Rukh Khan's son Aryan was arrested has been moved from the case by the agency on Friday.

As per latest reports, Wankhede will be transferred to the Delhi unit of NCB and the Aryan Khan drugs case will now be probed under the leadership of Sanjay Singh.

A total of 6 cases of Mumbai zone, including the drugs-on-cruise case, Arman Kohli drugs case and the case against Nawab Malik's son-in-law will now be investigated by a special Delhi-based team of NCB. "It was an administrative decision," says Mutha Ashok Jain, Deputy DG, South-Western Region, NCB. Jain also told mid-day that Wankhede will remain the zonal head of NCB's Mumbai unit.

However, a statement released by the anti-drug agency said, "A Special Investigation Team (SIT) comprising officers from Operations Branch of Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) Headquarters has been constituted by the Director General, NCB to take over total of 06 cases from NCB Mumbai Zonal Unit 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."

A team of Delhi NCB members will be arriving in Mumbai tomorrow.

Maharashtra minister Nawab Malik, who had levied several serious allegations on Wankhede including extortion and fake caste certificate, took to twitter to say, "a lot more has to be done to clean this system and we will do it."