Tribune News Service

New Delhi, November 5

Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) officer Sameer Wankhede has been taken off the controversial cruise drugs case in which Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan Khan was arrested, with the agency transferring the investigation in the matter and five other cases from the Mumbai unit headed by him to an SIT.

Wankhede, who is facing several personal and service-related allegations, will continue to be the Mumbai zone director of the agency.

Officials cited “administrative grounds” for the decision to transfer the six cases, which also include the one involving the son-in-law of Maharashtra Cabinet minister Nawab Malik, who had launched a tirade against Wankhede and levelled several allegations against him.

The NCB issued a statement on Friday to say that the six cases are being “taken over” by the special investigation team (SIT) of officers from the Delhi operations unit as they have “national and international ramifications and in order to conduct a deeper investigation to find out forward and backward linkages”.

It said, “No officer or officers have been removed from their present roles and they will continue to assist the operations branch investigation as required until any specific orders are issued to the contrary.” The NCB reiterated that it functions across India as a single integrated agency. Wankhede refuted that he has been “removed” from the investigation in the Aryan Khan case and said the agency’s move is about coordination between NCB teams of Mumbai and Delhi.