Vigilance found many flaws in Sameer probe
NCB promises action on its former Mumbai director
A vigilance inquiry against Wankhede has reportedly found many flaws in the way he handled the case against Aryan Khan and the final inquiry report will be submitted to the government soon.
Several of the claims made by Wankhede, an Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer, have fallen flat. One of his claims that the cruise ship case was linked to an international syndicate. The SIT, which was formed to investigate the case after several controversies over Wankhede’s investigation led to his removal, has not found any material to show the involvement of any international syndicate.
S.N. Pradhan, NCB director-general, said, “There is no international conspiracy found in the case. The accused had come in groups of four, three and two persons. It was not a joint conspiracy done by 14 people and so the conspiracy section has not been added. We cannot base the conspiracy charge merely on WhatsApp chats.”
Pradhan admitted that the SIT has found irregularities in the investigation done by the Mumbai NCB team. “The inquiry is on in this matter and it will be completed soon.”
“The SIT in its probe pointed out some serious irregularities and appropriate action will be taken,” Pradhan said.
Aryan and other accused were not even subjected to a drug test after there were caught by the NCB. Also, no videography was done during the search operation.
NCP leader Nawab Malik, now in jail in connection with a land grabbing and money laundering case, had alleged that the NCB's raid was a set-up and Aryan Khan was lured to the party with the intention to extort money from his father, Shah Rukh Khan.
Prabhakar Sail, a panch witness, had filed a notarised affidavit alleging that he had heard another witness, K.P. Gosavi, telling one Sam D’Souza to demand `25 crore to clear Aryan Khan’s name and settle for `18 crore.
Interestingly, Gosavi, a self-proclaimed private investigator, was present on the ship when Wankhede’s team raided it. His photographs and video escorting Aryan Khan had gone viral.
Wankhede had also relied on Aryan Khan’s WhatsApp chats to claim that he was part of a drug network and he was in regular touch with drug suppliers. One of the messages used against Aryan Khan was the one he had sent to his friend Arbaaz Merchant saying, “Let’s have a blast”. The NCB team had relied on a few other messages that Aryan Khan had sent or received a couple of years prior to the cruise ship raid.
While releasing Aryan on bail on October 28, 2021, the Bombay High Court had held that there was no evidence against him and the other two accused,
Arbaz Merchant and Munmun Dhamecha. The High Court also held that there was nothing objectionable in Aryan Khan’s WhatsApp chats to suggest any agreement to hatch a conspiracy or commit the crime alleged by the NCB.
After the controversies and allegations, the SIT was formed by the NCB to take over probe. Wankhede, who was on deputation with the NCB, was sent back to his parent organisation, the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) after his deputation ended on December 31, 2021.
Wankhede refused to comment on the latest development, saying that he was no more associated with the NCB.
NCP leader Nawab Malik, who had carried out a campaign against Wankhede and alleged that the officer used a fake caste certificate, demanded action against him. Malik's office posted on his official Twitter handle with hashtags ‘Farziwada exposed’ and ‘Truth prevails’, “Now that Aryan Khan and five others get a clean chit, will NCB take action against Sameer Wankhede, his team and a private army? Or will it shield the culprits?”
The agency said that the names of six persons — Aryan Khan, Avin Sahu, a guest in the ship, and organisers Gopal Anand, Samir Sehgal, Bhaskar Arora and Manav Singhal — had been dropped for “lack of sufficient evidence.”
Among the 14 accused are Aryan Khan's friends Arbaaz Merchant (26) and Munmun Dhamecha (28), Vikrant Chhokar (33), Mohak Jaiswal (28), Ishmeet Singh Chadha (33), Gomit Chopra (28), Nupur Satija
(29), Abdul Kadar Shaikh
(30), Shreyas Nair (23), Manish Rajgariya (30), Aachit Kumar (22), Chinedu Igwe (27), Shivraj Harijan (33) and Okoro Uzeoma (40).
Though the investigators did not recover any drugs from Khan’s possession, they allegedly recovered six grams of charas from Arbaaz Merchant and five grams of hashish from Munmun Dhamecha.
Aryan Khan was granted bail by the Bombay High Court on October 28 last. The HC held that prima facie there was no evidence to infer that Khan and Merchant had conspired to commit offences under the NDPS Act.
Following several controversies caused by Wankhede's style of functioning and personal allegations against him, the investigation was handed over to an SIT from NCB (New Delhi), headed by Sanjay Kumar Singh on November 6, 2021.
Aryan Khan's lawyer Satish Maneshinde said, “The arrest and detention of Aryan Khan for 26 days was unjustified, particularly when he was not found in possession of any drugs, there was no evidence of any kind, there was no material of any nature of the violation of any law much less the NDPS Act... God is great. Satya Meva Jayate.”