Sameer Wankhede removed from Aryan Khan case probe, Delhi NCB's SIT to take over

The zonal director of Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) Sameer Wankhede, who is probing the Aryan Khan drugs case, has been removed from his role as the lead investigator.

The development comes following allegations of Rs 8 crore payoff linked to the drugs-on-cruise case and extortion of Bollywood actors. Questions are also being raised over his "extravagant" lifestyle.

Wankhede, however, downplayed the development saying that the move was in line with his demand for a central probe into the drugs-on-cruise case. “I had also filed a petition asking that either a central agency or the NCB’s Delhi unit should take over the probe into the Aryan Khan case and the Nawab Malik case," he told a private news channel.

"I've not been removed from the investigation. It was my writ petition in court that the matter be probed by a central agency. So Aryan case & Sameer Khan case are being probed by Delhi NCB's SIT. It's a coordination b/w NCB teams of Delhi & Mumbai," NCB Zonal Dir Sameer Wankhede was quoted by news agency ANI as saying. 

Apart from the drugs-on-cruise case, the NCB director-general has decided to transfer four other high-profile cases from the agency’s Mumbai zonal unit to its central team, according to sources. A special investigation team (SIT), led by senior police officer Sanjay Singh, will take over all the five cases which were being handled by Wankhede.

On Monday, Wankhede had visited the NCB headquarters in Delhi and met his seniors. He was seen entering the NCB head office soon after he met National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC) chairperson Vijay Sampla.

NCB deputy director-general (northern region) Gyaneshwar Singh is conducting a departmental vigilance probe into allegations of extortion made in the drugs-on-cruise case in which Wankhede and his team had been arrested Aryan Khan and seven others on October 3 from the international cruise terminal in Mumbai.