Who Is Sameer Wankhede And Why Has He Become The Central Figure In Mumbai Drug Controversy

Another man who is sharing the limelight and scrutiny other than Aryan Khan in the Goa cruise ship drug bust case is Sameer Wankhede, the zonal director of the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB).

Ever since the drug bust on Cordelia cruise ship on October 3, Sameer Wankhede has been in news for multiple reasons.

He is now facing serious bribery allegations after a witness of the Narcotics Control Bureau, in connection with a drugs case in Mumbai against Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan¡®s son Aryan Khan, has claimed that the NCB had asked him to sign blank papers.

Prabhakar Sail (40), a driver of absconding alleged private investigator whose selfie with Aryan went viral, claimed that he is a personal bodyguard to Gosavi.

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Sail claimed that a Rs 25 crore pay-off was demanded by NCB Zonal Director Sameer Wankhede and others from Shah Rukh Khan to release his son Aryan Khan.

However, a senior NCB official denied the allegations, terming them as "completely false and malicious".

Sail in his affidavit claimed that Gosavi demanded Rs 25 crore but finally settled at Rs 18 crore to ensure Aryan Khan's release.

Sail revealed that while making the witnesses, in this case, Sameer Wankhede took his sign on 8 to ten blank papers.

Wankhede approaches court

On Monday, Wankhede approached a special court against the allegations of extortion levelled against them in the cruise drugs seizure case.

The anti-drugs agency and Wankhede in their affidavits said this was an attempt to create hurdles and scuttle the investigation in the case.

Drugs-on-cruise-case | Appearing before Special NDPS court, NCB Zonal Director Sameer Wankhede told the judge that he was being targeted and is ready for a probe.

Two affidavits have been filed in the case. One by NCB and one by Wankhede.

¡ª ANI (@ANI) October 25, 2021

Affidavit by Prabhakar Sail, witness in a crime case of NCB has come to my notice. As he's witness & case is sub-judice, he needs to submit his prayer to Court rather than social media. Our Zonal Director, Sameer Wankhede has denied the allegations: DDG, South-Western Region, NCB pic.twitter.com/GwdU7AyGCY

¡ª ANI (@ANI) October 24, 2021

The NCB in its affidavit sought that there should be no tampering with the evidence or investigation, while Wankhede refuted the allegations raised against him.

Wankhede on Sunday also wrote to Mumbai Police Commissioner Hemant Nagrale, seeking protection from likely legal action "being planned" against him by unknown persons to falsely frame him concerning an alleged vigilance-related issue.

Without taking names, Wankhede, an IRS officer of the 2008 batch, had claimed in his letter to Nagrale that the threat of jail and dismissal have been issued against him on public media by highly respectable public functionaries.

A star officer

Wankhede is a star officer and has served as deputy commissioner of the Air Intelligence Unit (AIU) and additional SP of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) before his stint with the NCB.

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Later, he joined as the assistant commissioner of Customs and was posted at Mumbai Airport

When Wankhede was transferred to the Maharashtra Service Tax department in 2010, he booked 2,500 people, including 200 celebrities, for evading tax.

In 2013, he caught singer Mika Singh at the Mumbai airport with foreign currency.

In August 2020, he was loaned out for six months to the NCB that was looking to probe the Sushant Singh Rajput Drug case. He was awarded the ¡®Home Minister¡¯s Medal¡¯ for excellence in work in 2021. His tenure at NCB was extended by six more months right after the cruise ship drug-bust case.