Witness Prabhakar Sail ready to cooperate in inquiry against Wankhede: Lawyers tell NCB
The witness, Prabhakar Sail, claimed to have overheard a conversation about an alleged payoff of ₹25 crore involving Sameer Wankhede in connection with the drugs-on-cruise case.
The lawyers of a controversial independent witness in the drugs-on-cruise case informed the Narcotics Control Bureau that their client will cooperate in the inquiry that was started against NCB zonal director Sameer Wankhede based on his complaint. The witness, Prabhakar Sail, claimed to have overheard a conversation about an alleged payoff of ₹25 crore involving Sameer Wankhede in connection with the case. Based on the alleged conversation, Sail had claimed that ₹8 crore of the total payoff amount was to be given to Wankhede.
The serious charges levelled by Sail prompted the anti-drugs agency to start an inquiry against Wankhede, who is also facing allegations of forging caste documents to get into the Indian Revenue Service (IRS), a claim he has dismissed as “baseless”. While the Mumbai Police recorded the state of Sail last week, the NCB said it was unable to contact the Panch witness to join them in the separate probe.
"We have tried our best to contact them but could not. Through the media, I would like to tell them they are free to join in two days and give evidence to special inquiry team which has been staying at CRPF mess at Bandra (West)," NCB's deputy director-general Gyaneshwar Singh said.
Sail’s lawyers told the NCB that he is ready to cooperate in the inquiry but he hasn’t been served any summons yet, reported news agency ANI. Sail worked as a bodyguard for KP Gosavi, another controversial witness in the case who has been arrested after his name surfaced in multiple cheating cases.