NCB's clean chit to Aryan: Centre orders probe against Wankhede
The Union Home Affairs Ministry has asked the concerned authorities to launch an investigation against former Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) officer Sameer Wankhede for the "shoddy investigation" into the drugs-on-cruise case in which Shah Rukh Khan's son Aryan Khan was arrested last year. Action was also sought in relation to his forged caste certificate. Aryan got a clean chit in the case on Friday.
- The NCB arrested Aryan in the case on October 3, 2021.
- Wankhede was the NCB's Mumbai director at the time and he oversaw the initial investigation following an anti-drug raid on a cruise ship.
- On October 28, Aryan was granted bail by the Bombay High Court, which rejected the NCB's arguments and stated such serious allegations cannot be made solely based on WhatsApp messages.
Wankhede is a revenue officer with the Indian Revenue Service, and the ministry of finance is the nodal agency for disciplinary action against him. Notably, on November 6 last year, Wankhede was removed from the investigation in the drugs-on-cruise case. Moreover, the case was transferred from Mumbai to a Delhi-based special investigation team (SIT) led by SK Singh, NCB's deputy director-general.
After Maharashtra minister Nawab Malik claimed Wankhede used forged documents to get a government job, the NCB officer presented what he claimed were his original caste papers to the National Commission for Scheduled Castes in November. Meanwhile, the 6,000-page charge sheet released by the NCB on Friday, which named 14 accused, doesn't include Aryan Khan's name due to a lack of evidence against him.
"Now that Aryan Khan and 5 others get a clean chit. Will NCB take action against Sameer Wankhede his team and the private army? Or will it shield the culprits? (sic)" Malik's office tweeted after Khan was given a clean chit in the case.
Irregularities in Wankhede's investigation after the drugs raid included the search operation not being videotaped and lapses in analyzing the contents of Aryan's phone because the chats don't link him to the case. Another serious blunder was the grouping of all the suspects and charging everyone with the same charges even though no drugs were found on Aryan.
Other irregularities in the case include the lack of medical tests to prove drug consumption. And, one witness had even become hostile, informing the special investigation team that he was forced to sign on blank papers, said reports. Meanwhile, two additional witnesses also reportedly told the investigators that they were not even present at the time of the NCB raid.
