E-Paper
NCB's Delhi team takes over Aryan Khan case, Sameer Wankhede calls move ‘coordination’
While Wankhede would no more supervise the Aryan Khan case, he would continue in his role as the Mumbai zone director.
The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) on Friday transferred six of its cases, including the drugs-on-cruise one in which Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan was granted bail a week ago, from the Mumbai team to their Delhi counterparts.
The move came amid serious allegations of extortion being levelled against the NCB and its Mumbai zone director Sameer Wankhede. However, Wankhede said it was his writ petition that the matter be probed by a central team and that he was not removed from the case.
Earlier, the NCB’s deputy DG of south-western region, Mutha Ashok Jain, six cases from Mumbai NCB zone have been transferred to the agency’s operation team in Delhi for further investigation. He further said that while Wankhede would no more supervise the Aryan Khan case, he would continue in his role as the Mumbai zone director.
Also read | Why Sameer Wankhede's clothes, assets, lifestyle are under scrutiny
Speaking to reporters, Wankhede said, “I've not been removed from the investigation. It was my writ petition in court that the matter be probed by a central agency. So Aryan case & Sameer Khan case are being probed by Delhi NCB's SIT. It's a coordination between NCB teams of Delhi and Mumbai.”
A team from Delhi will reach Mumbai on Sunday.
Wankhede had a rapid fall from grace after his team busted a rave party aboard a Goa-bound cruise and detained the Bollywood star's son among several others on October 2. He was arrested a day later and was granted bail by the Bombay high court on October 30.
Also read | Yasmeen Wankhede's message to Nawab Malik's family: ‘Teach him to respect women’
Maharashtra minister and senior Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader brought several charges against him, including extortion and fraudulent use of caste card to secure his job.
Soon after, the senior officer was called to Delhi, while a team from the national capital came to Mumbai to probe the extortion allegations.
Meanwhile, the new twists kept coming in as the NCB's own witnesses turned hostile and reiterated the extortion allegations.
