'It wasn't Wankhede's decision alone to arrest Aryan Khan'

'The decision to arrest Aryan Khan was a consensual decision, not a one-man command.'

Sources in the Narcotics Control Bureau allege that Sameer Wankhede, the NCB's former Mumbai zonal director, is being hounded by influential people for being upright and honest while performing his service as an investigator.

The NCB sources claim Wankhede is being singled out for harassment given the high-profile personalities he has arrested or took action against for violating laws.

Wankhede was transferred to Chennai soon after the NCB's clean chit to Aryan Khan, movie superstar Shah Rukh Khan's son.

Aryan Khan was arrested on the night of October 2, 2021 for alleged possession of drugs and spent almost a month in Mumbai's Arthur Road jail till he was granted bail.

"The arresting authority is the I/O (investigating officer). Then after the I/O, there is the superintendent. After the superintendent comes the zonal director (Wankhede). The zonal director's role is that of the supervisory officer and after that comes the DDG (Deputy Director General, NCB), whose role is also supervisory in nature. And after that there is the DG (Director General, NCB), who is also a supervisory officer," explains one NCB source.

"It is not mandatory for the zonal director to go on the field, but Wankhede always led from the front," the NCB source tells Prasanna D Zore/Rediff.com. "For his team's spirit and to motivate and encourage them in a high-profile case he went along (to arrest whoever was found guilty of consuming drugs or in possession of drugs)."

"Was the decision to arrest Aryan Khan taken by the zonal director (Wankhede)?" the NCB source asks. "We beg to differ."

"He (Wankhede) went after anybody who broke the law irrespective of a person being high-profile or low-profile," says the NCB source, pointing out that Wankhede, a month before Aryan Khan's arrest, was awarded the Union home minister's medal for excellence in investigations.

"And the same guy by arresting some high-profile people becomes a shoddy investigator!" exclaims the NCB source, asking, "Was the decision to arrest Aryan Khan (under the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act) just the job of a zonal director?"

"The decision to arrest Aryan Khan was a consensual decision, not a one-man command that was followed without following the due procedure of arrest under the NDPS Act," says the NCB source. "It was a consensual decision including the opinion of the public prosecutor. But the media dubbed it as one man's agenda."

"In high profile cases," the NCB source explains, "the decision to arrest someone goes through the proper channel till the highest command in the chain (till the DG, NCB) and after that the arrest is made."

About the inquiry into alleged investigation lapses that led to Aryan Khan's arrest on false pretext, the NCB source says, "There were many inquiries before this one too (against Wankhede). The Mumbai police had started an investigation (to probe charges of extortion against Wankhede based on four different applications including the one filed by Prabhakar Sail, K P Gosavi's bodyguard, who later died of a heart attack; K P Gosavi is NCB's independent panch in Aryan Khan case). What happened to that?"

"Then there was the NCB vigilance inquiry to probe him extortion charges against him (Wankhede; Prabhakar Sail, independent witness K P Gosavi's bodyguard claimed he heard Gosavi discuss a demand for Rs 25 crore from Shah Rukh Khan's manager for dropping charges against Aryan Khan). What happened to that?"

"Wankhede and his family were humiliated for almost a month. but did anything come out of it? Everything has been conveniently closed now," the NCB source adds.

"Let any number of inquiries be started against him," says the NCB source. "Wankhede is not scared of such inquiries."

"They are talking now about shoddy investigation, but Wankhede was there for just two-three minutes (during Aryan Khan's arrest)," says the NCB source.

"He has done his duty with honesty and integrity," the NCB insists, adding, "If we know Wankhede, he will continue to do his duty irrespective of the outcome."

"He knows he has done nothing wrong; he has followed the rule of law and he will keep doing it till the time he is in service," says the NCB source.

"He has been hounded by well-known people all his career and he will continue to do his job with his head held high."