NCB DDG who gave clean chit to Aryan Khan in Cordelia case, takes voluntary retirement
MUMBAI: Sanjay Kumar Singh, 59, Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB)’S Deputy Director General who headed the Special Investigation Team (SIT) that gave a clean chit to Aryan Khan, the son of actor Shah Rukh Khan, in the Cordelia drugs bust case, has taken voluntary retirement from the Indian Police Service (IPS).
IPS officer Singh, known for his no-nonsense approach. He is an IPS from 1996 batch, Odisha cadre. He gained recognition during his tenure in the CBI as Deputy Inspector General. He supervised numerous highprofile corruption probes and probed the alleged irregularities in the conduct of the Commonwealth Games, 2010 in Delhi while he was in CBI.
Singh, who joined the NCB on deputation in 2021, applied for voluntary retirement on February 29, approved by the government. He confirmed his retirement citing personal reasons. Singh, currently serving as DDG (Southwest Region), is set to retire on April 30. In his role, Singh oversaw the investigation into the Cordelia cruise case, initiated by NCB’S Mumbai zonal unit under Sameer Wankhede. The case, involving the arrest of Aryan Khan and others, led to allegations prompting the NCB headquarters to assign the investigation to Singh’s SIT in November 2021. In May 2022, Aryan Khan was cleared in the case due to insufficient evidence.
In May 2023, the CBI’S Delhi unit implicated five individuals, including Wankhede, in the Cordelia case following a tip from the NCB. They were accused of extorting ₹25 crore from Aryan’s family to avoid implicating him in the drugs case, allegedly receiving ₹25 lakh as a bribe. Wankhede denounced the charges as NCB officials’ vendetta. The CBI investigation commenced one-and-ahalf years after the incident, following the Mumbai police’s closure report. Subsequently, the ED initiated a money-laundering probe. Seeking relief, Wankhede moved the Bombay High Court, obtaining interim protection from coercive action. He also petitioned against two NCB Preliminary Enquiries supervised by DDG Singh, alleging drug links post-sushant Singh Rajput’s demise and a Nigerian national’s arrest for drug possession. Wankhede dismissed NCB’S claims as ‘vengeance,’ citing entrapment allegations and the Sapna Pabbi drug case, where she claimed a valid medical prescription.