Advertisement

Updated October 11th, 2021 at 20:56 IST

NCB's Sameer Wankhede alleges illegal surveillance amid drug bust case; files complaint

NCB Zonal Director Sameer Wankhede on Monday filed a complaint with Maharashtra Police, alleging that illegal surveillance is being carried out on him.

Reported by: Sudeshna Singh
Sameer Wankhede
Credit-ANI/RepublicTV | Image:self
Advertisement

NCB  Zonal Director Sameer Wankhede on Monday filed a complaint with Maharashtra Police, alleging that illegal surveillance is being carried out on him. In the complaint, Wankhede has alleged that in the past 36-48 hours, illegal surveillance is being carried out on his movements, the proof of which the NCB sleuth says he has in the form of CCTV footage. The CCTV footage, as per sources, has people in civil clothes following him. This comes at a time when Wankhede is leading the investigation into the high profile Mumbai drug bust case in which over 20 people including Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan's son Aryan Khan are under arrest. 

The politicization of NCB's Mumbai Cruise ship drug bust case

Only last week, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader and Maharashtra Minister Nawab Malik said that Shah Rukh's son Aryan Khan's arrest in the cruise drug bust is a 'forgery'. Malik, whose son-in-law is subject of a 1000-page chargesheet by the NCB and was arrested earlier this year for possession of drugs, added, "For the last one month, the information was being circulated to crime reporters that the next target is actor Shah Rukh Khan."

Thereafter, in a press briefing, Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB)'s Deputy Director-General Gyaneshwar Singh and Zonal Director Sameer Wankhede refuted allegations being levelled against the Central agency. Speaking to the media, the officials called the allegations against the NCB 'baseless' and claimed that they may have been made in retaliation to 'earlier actions' carried out by NCB, in a clear reference to the aforementioned case involving Nawab Malik's family member. 

"The NCB's procedure has been and will continue to be legally transparent and unbiased," Deputy Director-General Gyaneshwar Singh and Zonal Director Sameer Wankhede had said in the press briefing where they gave a full status update on the Mumbai cruise ship drug bust which has witnessed the arrest of Shah Rukh Khan's son Aryan Khan.

Aryan Khan & 19 others arrested in Cordelia drug bust case

The  Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) on October 2 busted a high-profile drug party on a cruise ship en route from Mumbai to Goa. The party allegedly involving celebrities, including actor Shah Rukh Khan's son Aryan Khan, was busted by the NCB after an eight-hour operation. Cocaine, Hashish, MDMA, and other drugs were recovered, and eight people - Aryan Khan, Arbaaz Merchant, Munmun Dhamecha, Nupur Satija, Ishmeet Singh Chadha, Mohak Jaiswal, Gomit Chopra, and Vikrant Chhokar, were arrested. 

On the basis of information gained during the interrogation of the eight people arrested, the police arrested four people on October 4 - Shreyas Nair, Abdul Sheikh, Manish Darya and Avin Sahu.

On October 5, Gopal Jee Anand, Samir Sehgal, Manav Singhal, and Bhaskar Arora - who are said to be the organizers, were arrested in Delhi. On October 6, police arrested Achit Kumar from Powai, and on October 7, a foreign national from Bandra was arrested in follow-up operations. Later on October 9, a drug peddler named Shivraj, who used to supply drugs to Arbaaz Merchant was arrested and on October 10 Okaro Ouzama was arrested. 

The agency has so far arrested 20 people in connection with Mumbai's cruise drug bust case, including two Nigerians. 

Advertisement

Published October 11th, 2021 at 20:56 IST

Your Voice. Now Direct.

Send us your views, we’ll publish them. This section is moderated.

Advertisement
Advertisement
Whatsapp logo