Aryan Khan Case Officer Alleges Targeted Over "Dead Mother, Her Religion"

Aryan Khan Case: Sameer Wankhede is the senior NCB official leading the probe (File)

Sameer Wankhede, the Narcotics Bureau officer leading the investigation into the drugs case that involves Shah Rukh Khan's son, Aryan Khan, hit back Monday at Nationalist Congress Party leader and Maharashtra minister Nawab Malik over the latter's allegations of forgery.

Mr Malik, who has been spearheading criticism of the anti-drugs agency and its inquiries into Aryan Khan, the Mumbai drugs-on-cruise case, and an "international drugs cartel", this morning tweeted a photo of a document related to Mr Wankhede's birth and claimed, "the forgery began from here".

According to NCB sources Mr Wankhede, who is set to question young actor Ananya Panday today (also in connection with the drugs-on-cruise case), has slammed the "shoddy" comment.

Agency sources quoted him as saying: "I have come to know about a recent tweet by Nawab Malik regarding caste certificate. This is a shoddy attempt to bring in things that are unrelated to (the drugs case). My mother was Muslim... (why) does he want to bring my dead mother into this?"

"To verify my caste and background anyone can visit my native place and verify my descent from my great-grandfather. But he should not spread this filth like this. I will fight all this legally and don't want to comment too much on this out of court," the NCB officer said, according to sources.

Nawab Malik's tweet comes a day after Mr Wankhede wrote to Mumbai Police and sought protection from legal action fearing "being framed" falsely with "ulterior motives". Mr Wankhede wrote claiming threats of jail and dismissal - seen as referring to Mr Malik's remark that he would soon lose his job.

"They (BJP) have a puppet - Wankhede. He raises bogus cases... I challenge Wankhede he'll lose his job in a year... We have evidence of bogus cases," Mr Malik had been quoted by news agency ANI.

Among other claims, Nawab Malik has also alleged Sameer Wankhede was in the Maldives during the lockdown and that he was targeting Bollywood personalities for an extortion racket. 

Mr Wankhede told NDTV: "I have gone with my children, with proper permission and my own money."

Nawab Malik has also repeatedly claimed the NCB case is "fake" and was triggered by the centre to malign the Maharashtra government. "Attempts were made to implicate certain people..." he said.

Meanwhile, on Sunday a witness made sensational claims against Mr Wankhede.

Prabhakar Sail - who claims to be a personal bodyguard to KP Gosavi, the alleged private investigator whose selfie with Aryan Khan after the young celebrity's arrest went viral - claimed he heard a conversation between him and one Sam D'Souza on October 3 about a deal worth Rs 18 crore.

According to Mr Sail, Gosavi, whom the NCB had claimed as as 'independent witness' and is now missing, said Rs 8 crore of that amount would have to be given to Sameer Wankhede.

NCB sources have said Mr Sail's allegations were made "to malign the (agency's) image".

Nevertheless, his affidavit will be investigated - by Deputy Director-General Gyaneshwar Singh.

Also today, Mr Malik's colleague - the Shiv Sena's Sanjay Raut, whose party is allied with the NCP - commended Mr Sail's courage and sought protection for him from the state government.

Mr Raut further indicated he would now take up the attack on the NCB.

Aryan Khan has been in jail since October 8, and he has been denied bail after heated hearings in lower courts. He has now applied to the Bombay High Court, which will hear his plea tomorrow.

No drugs were found on him; the case is based entirely on information from his WhatsApp chats that the NCB claims indicate he was in touch with an international drugs cartel.

With input from ANI