HC asks NCB to submit details of preliminary inquiry initiated against Sameer Wankhede

Mumbai, Apr 18 (PTI) The Bombay High Court on Thursday directed the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) to submit the material collected by it in the preliminary inquiry initiated against its former Mumbai zonal director Sameer Wankhede over alleged irregularities found in two cases probed by him.

A division bench of Justices Revati Mohite-Dere and Manjusha Deshpande also sought to know from the agency what the complaints were against Wankhede and who were the complainants, on the basis of which the inquiry was initiated.

Wankhede, a 2008-batch Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer, had filed a petition in the high court, challenging the notices issued to him on the NCB’s preliminary inquiry over alleged irregularities in a drugs case related to actor Sushant Singh Rajput’s death.

Wankhede on Thursday submitted a rejoinder affidavit to the court through his counsel Rajiv Chavan, claiming that he has been facing multiple cases after he arrested actor Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan Khan in the drugs-on-cruise case.

He also alleged that former Maharashtra minister Nawab Malik also held a grudge against him as he had arrested Malik’s son-in-law Sameer Khan in a drugs case.

On Thursday, the bench, after perusing the plea copy, noted that Wankhede had approached the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT), too, against the notices issued to him by the NCB.

The court queried if there was overlapping of reliefs sought by Wankhede.

“We cannot have simultaneous proceedings. When the notices are sub-judice before the CAT, how can you come to the Bombay High Court,” the court said.

Chavan claimed that the plea in CAT pertained to notices issued in another inquiry initiated by the NCB.

The court asked for a chart containing all proceedings filed by Wankhede in all forums for clarity.

The bench will hear the matter further on April 23.

The NCB initiated the preliminary inquiry against Wankhede in connection with the drugs case pertaining to Rajput’s death and another case of arrest of a Nigerian national for drugs possession, probed by Wankhede, after it received complaints of irregularities during the investigation into them.

After Rajput allegedly committed suicide at his residence in Mumbai in June 2020, the NCB initiated a probe of alleged drug use in the film industry.

The agency later filed a case of alleged possession, consumption and financing of drugs against Rajput’s girlfriend Rhea Chakraborty, her brother Showik and 33 others.

From November 2023 to March 2024, the NCB issued eight notices to Wankhede, directing him to appear before the agency’s Deputy Director General Sanjay Singh, who is heading the preliminary inquiry.

Wankhede in his petition claimed he was being targeted and the inquiry was an “act of vengeance”.

Wankhede, a 2008-batch IRS officer of the Customs and Indirect Taxes cadre, was also booked by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in May last year on the charges of extortion and bribery for allegedly seeking Rs 25 crore to not frame actor Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan Khan in a case of drug bust on a cruise ship.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) also later lodged a money laundering case against him.

Wankhede had moved the high court against both the cases and was granted interim protection from any coercive action.