Sameer Wankhede, the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) official who is investigating the drugs-on-cruise case involving Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan Khan and others, on Tuesday hit back at Maharashtra minister Nawab Malik over his allegations of a WhatsApp chat between his sister and a drug smuggler. Sameer Wankhede also refuted Malik’s claims that he wears expensive clothes and accessories.
Wankhede said a drug peddler approached his sister, Yasmeen Wankhede, who is a lawyer, but she told him she does not handle cases under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act.
“A peddler, Salman, had approached my sister but she doesn’t take NDPS cases so she sent him back. Salman had tried to trap us via a middleman. He was arrested and he is in jail. False allegations are being levelled by sharing his WhatsApp chat,” Sameer Wankhede said on Nawab Malik’s allegations, according to news agency .
“The middleman, who had tried to trap us, had given a false complaint earlier this year to the Mumbai Police. Nothing came out of it. After that peddlers like Salman were used to trap my family. Such attempts are going on and the drug mafia is behind this,” Wankhede, the NCB Mumbai zonal director, said.
Nationalist Congress Party leader (NCP) Malik, who has been attacking Wankhede and has called the NCB’s raid on the cruise ship last month fake, earlier in the day accused the NCB Mumbai zonal director of extorting crores of rupees. He also alleged that Wankhede has raised a private army that extorts money through frivolous drugs cases.
“As per information available with me, as soon as Wankhede joined this department, he raised his private army comprising Kiran Gosavi. Manish Bhanushali, Fletcher Patel, Adil Usmani and Sam D’Souza,” Malik told news agency. “This private army extorts money in the garb of these small cases that are highlighted exponentially to frame people while the big cases of relevance go unnoticed,” he added.
Malik claimed NCB’s Wankhede wore a trouser worth a lakh, a shirt costing over ₹70,000 and watches worth ₹25-50 lakh. “How can an honest and upright officer claim to afford such expensive clothes?” he asked.
Wankhede refuted the claims made by the minister. “As far as my expensive clothes are concerned, it is just a rumour. He has less knowledge and he should find out these things,” Wankhede said.
Wankhede, who is leading the investigation into the drugs bust case, is facing an inquiry by the NCB after Prabhakar Sail, an agency witness, claimed to have overheard a conversation about an alleged payoff of ₹25 crore involving Sameer Wankhede in connection with the case. Sail claimed that ₹8 crore of the total payoff amount was to be given to Wankhede.
Aryan Khan was released on bail on Sunday after spending more than 20 days in the Arthur Road jail after being granted bail by the Bombay high court.