Sameer Wankhede quizzed by NCB vigilance team for over four hours

New Delhi, Nov 1:  The Narcotics Control Bureau's (NCB) Mumbai Zonal Director Sameer Wankhede on Monday recorded his statement before the vigilance team for the second time and was quizzed for over four hours, sources in the bureau said.

This was his second appearance before the NCB vigilance team.

On October 27, he faced the vigilance probe team for over five hours in connection with alleged corruption charges levelled against him in the cruise drug case in which film star Shah Rukh Khan's son Aryan Khan was arrested on October 2.

Sources in NCB also said that the vigilance team is yet to get in touch with Prabhakar Sail, who alleged that an extortion bid of Rs 25 crore was made by some agency officials, including Wankhede, to set free Aryan Khan.

The sources also said that if needed, Wankhede can be called in for questioning again.

Taking strong note of the corruption charges leveled against Wankhede, the NCB had set up a five-member probe team under Deputy Director General, Northern Region, Gyaneshwar Singh which visited the NCB zonal office in Mumbai on October 27 and took the statement of Wankhede.

The probe team also collected some documents and recordings from the Mumbai office, the DDG said, adding that the vigilance team also summoned the witnesses to record their statement.

The sources also said that the vigilance team will also look into the close proximity of independent witness Kiran Gosavi with Aryan Khan too.

Gosavi, an independent witness in the drugs-on-cruise case, was arrested by the Pune police in connection with a 2018 cheating case registered against him.

A vigilance team was asked to probe Wankhede after Sail's allegation that he was made to sign blank papers at the NCB office in Mumbai.

Meanwhile, amid the allegations of forged caste documents, Wankhede on Monday presented his caste certificates before the National Commission for Scheduled Caste Commission here in Delhi. He arrived from Mumbai this morning and presented his caste certificate and other related documents before the Commission and made a statement before the Commission too.

Maharashtra Minister Nawab Malik on October 25, had accused Wankhede of using forged documents to get a government job and demanded action should be taken against him.