Mumbai cruise drugs bust case: Sameer Wankhede is slated to face departmental action for ‘shoddy’ investigation

MUMBAI: Sameer Wankhede, the ex-officer of Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) who initially investigated the Cordelia drugs haul case, is set to face departmental action for his "shoddy" probe, particularly against actor Shah Rukh Khan's son Aryan who was given a clean chit by the anti-drugs agency on Friday.
The central government has asked the competent authority to initiate "appropriate action" against him, sources said. The government is already pursuing action against Wankhede in the case relating to his alleged fake caste certificate, they added.
Maharashtra minister Nawab Malik had earlier tweeted a photo of his birth certificate, which records him as a Muslim, to allege that he had misrepresented facts and submitted a fake caste certificate showing him to be a scheduled caste, for his appointment to the Indian Revenue Service (IRS). Malik claimed that Wankhede's father had converted to Islam. The IRS officer, though, had rejected Nawab's allegations.
Wankhede, an IRS officer of the 2008 batch, is no longer with NCB.
After his tenure with NCB ended in December 2021, he returned to the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), his parent organisation.
Sources said the finance ministry, the cadre controlling authority for Indian Revenue Service officers, is competent to initiate departmental action against him.