SIT Blames Sameer Wankhede For Cruise Drugs Case Fiasco, Says He Wanted To Implicate Aryan Khan

Things appear to be going from bad to worse for Sameer Wankhede after the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) cleared the name of Aryan Khan in the cruise drugs case.

Former NCB official Sameer Wankhede who was hailed a hero by many on social media for having the courage to arrest the son of one of the biggest celebrities in India for a drug case has now turned out to be the villain.

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The IRS officer who was on deputation when the Cordelia Cruises raid happened has now been disowned by the NCB after arguably the most high-profile investigation in the agency's history turned out to be an embarrassment.

The SIT formed in the drugs-on-cruise case might be filing a report with the Ministry of Home Affairs to fix responsibility for conducting a shoddy probe in the matter.

Several procedural lapses in the raid and arrest

The report will fix the responsibility of the officials who were involved in the investigation.

The SIT found that the initial team which conducted the raid and arrests had several procedural lapses.

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It found that the team Sameer Wankhede, who was heading the Mumbai Zone of the NCB had failed in conducting the mandatory medical test of the accused, no video recording of the raids or no corroborative evidence against WhatsApp chats.

SIT sleuths found the NCB team did many "grave irregularities" and were allegedly just trying to "implicate" Aryan in this case.

Leaking WhatsApp chats to media

"It is strange to note that in spite of clear cut denial by Arbaaz (Merchant) regarding involvement of Aryan in the procurement and possession of drugs from him, the investigating officer started looking at WhatsApp chats of Aryan without even formally seizing his mobile phone," the report said.

The report also noted that Merchant told the investigating officer that Aryan was aware that he (Merchant) was an occasional consumer. Merchant was also quoted as saying that Aryan told him not to carry any hash to the cruise as NCB was very active and that they would be in trouble. "In none of his statements Arbaaz Merchant states that drugs recovered was meant for Aryan, or Aryan was involved in any way in procuring the recovered drugs," the report said.

Agencies

The SIT also blamed the team which conducted the raid at Cordelia Cruise for committing a huge blunder by leaking the WhatsApp chats to the media before the court hearing.

Trouble for Wankhede

Right from the start of the case, Wankhede's conduct in the case was under the scanner.

But things took an ugly turn with allegations of extortion against him.

This was followed by a barrage of other allegations including the validity of his caste certificate.

Maharashtra minister and NCP leader Nawab Malik had alleged that Wankhede had submitted a fake caste certificate to get a government job.

Malik had claimed that as per the birth certificate, Wankhede is a born Muslim but allegedly appeared for the civic services (UPSC) exams through a reserved category and became an Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer.

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Later it also emerged that Wankhede, though ineligible, had secured the permit for the bar in 1997.

Face the music

Following the shoddy probe in the Aryan Khan case, it has been reported that the government has asked the Competent Authority to take action against Wankhede.

Sources have told IANS that the officials who directly or indirectly implicated any innocent in the matter will not be spared. If any person who was travelling on Cordelia Cruise was falsely booked, the official can face the music.

Most of the initial team members including Wankhede have been moved out of NCB or have faced some kind of action.

When asked if any action would be taken against the then Mumbai team headed by Wankhede, NCB director general SN Pradhan told PTI "we cannot immediately jump to accuse the Mumbai unit...they must have had something and to probe this there is another SIT."

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