Sameer Wankhede moves Bombay HC, asks CBI to probe any corruption allegations against him

In a massive development, NCB Zonal Director Sameer Wankhede moved the Bombay High Court on Thursday requesting a CBI probe into any corruption allegations levelled against him. In the petition filed before the court, the NCB officer has sought relief in the extortion probe saying that if any investigation needs to be done, it should be done by CBI. 

Arguing in court, Wankhede's senior counsel Atul Nanda said that under law, the State can not probe him and the section specifically requires protection of a Central Govt officer "The law requires the Court to step in and protect me if my rights are likely to be violated. They may arrest me today," his counsel stated. 

"My apprehension is that the State will arrest me any day. I want interim protection in form of no coercive relief," Sameer Wankhede told the Bombay High Court on Thursday. 

Meanwhile, public prosecutor Aruna Pai has said that the petition is 'premature'. "We started a preliminary enquiry. No FIR yet," she told the court.

Notably, the development also comes after the Mumbai Sessions court dismissed the affidavits filed by the NCB and Wankhede observing that it cannot pass 'blanket orders'. On October 25, the NCB had filed an affidavit before the Mumbai Sessions Court urging it to take cognizance of independent witness Prabhakar Sail turning 'hostile' in the Aryan Khan case. Shortly after the NCB, Zonal Director Sameer Wankhede also filed an affidavit in the Sessions Court requesting it to take cognisance of attempts to threaten him and derail the investigation. He had also mentioned that he was lurking under a threat of arrest. The court had given the apex agency the liberty to approach the 'appropriate authority' which is the Bombay High Court where the main case is currently being heard. 

Allegations against Sameer Wankhede

On Sunday, Prabhakar Sail, an independent witness in the drug bust case and KP Gosavi's personal bodyguard alleged that he heard about an Rs 18 crore deal in a conversation between Gosavi and another person named Sam D'Souza. Of the Rs 18 crore, Rs 8 crore was to be given to Wankhede, Sail alleged. NCB and Sameer Wankhede have dismissed all the allegations. 

On the other hand, NCP leader and Maharastra Minister Nawab Malik has also levelled a series of personal and political allegations against the NCB officer citing independent witnesses Manish Bhanushali and KP Gosavi's links to the BJP. The anti-drug agency has maintained that they did not know Bhanushali and Gosavi prior to October 2.