Ex-NCB officer Sameer Wankhede transferred; 2nd time in 6 months post Cordelia cruise case

Marred with controversy, IRS officer Sameer Wankhede was transferred again on Saturday. Wankhede has been transferred to the Directorate General of Taxpayer Services, Chennai from the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence in Delhi, in a mere span of 6 months. The IRS officer was before December 31, 2021, deputed to the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) Mumbai Zone. 

The transfer comes days after the NCB filed the chargesheet in the Cordelia Cruise Drug Bust, which was investigated by the officer, who at that time was the Zonal Director of the central agency. On November 6 last year, the NCB removed him from the investigation and transferred the case from Mumbai to Delhi-based SIT (Special Investigation Team) formed under its Deputy Director-General (operations) Sanjay Kumar Singh.

The Cordelia Cruise drug bust took place on October 2, 2021. Wankhede, along with his team, boarded the cruise ship in the guise of passengers after receiving a tip-off about the purported drug party from the CISF. Mid-sea, the NCB team raided the cruise ship and seized small amounts of Cocaine, Mephedrone, Charas, Hydroponic Weed, MDMA, and Rs 1,33,000 in cash.

Eight people including Aryan Khan were apprehended, while six others were let off by the NCB. During the course of the investigation, the number rose to 20.

Sameer Wankhede and the drug syndicate

Wankhede was known for action against the drug syndicates allegedly involving Bollywood celebrities in the aftermath of actor Sushant Singh Rajput's death. 

In 2020, starting with Rhea Chakroborty's arrest to summoning and questioning of celebrities like Deepika Padukone, Shraddha Kapoor, Sara Ali Khan and Rakul Preet Singh based on their alleged WhatsApp chats, Wankhede was the man at the helm of all NCB investigations, not to forget investigations of NCB involving Arjun Rampal, his model girlfriend Gabriella Demetriades and his sister Komal Rampal, producer Firoz Nadiadwala’s wife Shabana Saeed, a former employee of Dharmatic Entertainment, Kshitij Ravi Prasad. Also, TV celebrities like Bharti Singh, and husband Harsh Limbachiyaa and Preetika Chauhan.

In 2021, actor Armaan Kohli was arrested by the NCB in August 2021 on charges of drug consumption. The arrest and raids were carried out under NCB's Mumbai chief Sameer Wankhede's supervision.