The seizure, as per officials, is estimated to be worth over Rs 10 crore in the international market (about Rs 5K-7K per blot) and all the six who have been taken into custody, beginning late last month, are students and youngsters who wanted to make 'easy money' by remaining anonymous within the deep layers of secret internet-based apps and messenger service like WICKR.
Singh said he will take strong action to ensure that the FIR, which names Rajput's sister Priyanka Singh, Dr Tarun Kumar of RML Hospital, Delhi and others under various sections of the IPC, and Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, does not deflect the trials in another direction.
The special enquiry team of the Narcotics Control Bureau, which is probing allegations of extortion attempt in the drugs case involving actor Shah Rukh Khan's son Aryan, has recorded statements of over a dozen persons so far, a senior official said on Friday.
Wankhede presented his version and official documents related to the raid, which took place in October last year at the international cruise terminal in Mumbai, before NCB deputy director general for the northern region Gyaneshwar Singh.
A division bench of Justices A S Gadkari and SG Dige said the media reports have said the information is from Central Bureau of Investigation sources.
The National Commission for Scheduled Castes has asked Maharashtra's chief secretary and director general of police, Mumbai police commissioner and the Union home secretary to appear before it on January 31 for an in-person hearing on former Narcotics Control Bureau zonal director Sameer Wankhede's 'harassment' complaint.
"Had corona (COVID-19) not been there, the prime minister would have dedicated NATGRID to the country. I am hopeful that the prime minister will dedicate NATGRID to the country in some time," Union home minister Amit Shah said during the 51st Foundation Day event of the Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPRD) here on September 4.
They said various sections of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act (NDPS) have been pressed in the complaint filed by the federal anti-drugs agency on an official reference received from the Enforcement Directorate (ED).
A special team of the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), probing allegations of extortion in the drugs-on-cruise case in which Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan's son Aryan Khan is one of the accused, left for Delhi on Saturday without recording the statement of witness Prabhakar Sail, who had raised serious charges against Mumbai zonal director Sameer Wankhede and others, an official said.
The clean chit to Aryan Khan and five others by the Narcotics Control Bureau on Friday has once again brought the central agency's former zonal director Sameer Wankhede under the spotlight.
Singh's comment comes close on the heels of a large stockpile of drugs, cash and weapons being recovered near the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch.
The Narcotics Control Bureau on Tuesday claimed to have busted the "biggest" darknet-based LSD cartel operating in India with the seizure of more than 13,000 blots and Rs 26 lakh in cash and the arrest of three persons.
Officials of the NCB, which filed its chargesheet in a Mumbai court, said Aryan Khan and five others had not been named due to 'lack of sufficient evidence'.
The first high-level meeting of the Special Investigation Team on the issue of black money and special probe into cases of unaccounted funds stashed away abroad by Indians will be held in New Delhi on June 4.
There has been an "exponential" rise in the seizure of drugs in India in the last five years with the darknet and the maritime route emerging as the most preferred modes of trafficking, NCB director general S N Pradhan said on Tuesday.
The income tax department will share PAN and bank account details of any entity with 10 investigative and intelligence agencies, including the CBI and NIA, under the integrated counter-terrorism platform NATGRID, according to an official order.
The NCB claimed that the students were both addicts and suppliers of these drugs.
The first high-level meeting of the Special Investigation Team on the issue of black money and special probe into cases of unaccounted funds stashed away abroad by Indians will be held in New Delhi on Monday.
"We urge and expect the media to exercise restraint before publishing or reporting on details of the investigation, and report in such a manner that it does not hamper the investigation," the court said.
The four-five member team, led by NCB's Deputy Director General (northern region) Gyaneshwar Singh, is also likely to visit a few other places and will also record the statement of Prabhakar Sail, an independent witness in the case.
Delhi's power circles can expect a surprise when a not-so-known officer is appointed to head the CBI.
Prabhakar Sail, an independent witness in the cruise drugs seizure case, on Sunday claimed that a Narcotics Control Bureau officer and some other persons demanded Rs 25 crore from Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan to release his son Aryan Khan in the case.
Hearing PILs about "media trial" in the case, the court remarked that the media has become "polarised".
Showik is brother of the main accused in the case, Rhea Chakraborty, while Miranda was house manager of the deceased actor.
More than 300 coastal security exercises have been conducted with state authorities post the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack to beef up the country's security, Indian Coast Guard Director General K Natarajan said on Thursday.
The case of alleged bribery of Syndicate Bank Chairman-cum-Managing Director S K Jain may come up for discussion in the meeting of Special Investigation Team on black money, as it is a "classic" case of how proceeds of corruption were transferred through hawala channels.
NCB Deputy Director General (south-west region) Mutha Ashok Jain told reporters outside the agency's office later that Rhea will be called again on Monday for questioning and recording of her statement like Sunday.
Security agencies could track the flight path and even address of criminals involved in this cross-border illegal activity that is rearing its head over the last few years, he said on Saturday.
Addressing a press conference in Mumbai, Bharatiya also alleged that Deshmukh had met a drug peddler and Underworld don Dawood Ibrahim's aide Chinku Pathan at the Sahyadri state guest house in Mumbai when a strict lockdown was in force.
The Narcotics Control Bureau's special investigation team has found "grave irregularities" and gaps in the probe of the Mumbai drugs-on-cruise case, with officials saying its first team that arrested Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan's son Aryan did not follow rules like mandatory medical test of accused, video recording of the raids and corroborate evidence for WhatsApp chats.
The Justice Mudgal committee appointed by the Supreme Court to investigate into charges of betting and spot-fixing in the Indian Premier League last year will not be travelling to England to investigate current Indian players as part of their probe, the Board of Control for Cricket in India said on Wednesday.
'She came yesterday, she came today... we talked to her all day, questioned her. So, I cannot say she is not cooperating. She will come tomorrow too. 'So we are getting her cooperation,' NCB deputy director general (DDG) (south-west region) Mutha Ashok Jain told reporters after the questioning session.
According to the government's notification, 10 central probe and snoop agencies are now empowered under the Information Technology Act for computer interception and analysis, ministry of home affairs officials said.
The Supreme Court said on Thursday that it will hear "as and when required" a public interest litigation challenging the government's notification authorising 10 central agencies to intercept, monitor and decrypt any computer system.
The Narcotic Control Bureau, which had told the court on Wednesday that Khan was involved in the conspiracy, illicit drug trafficking as well as its procurement and consumption, today claimed that 'evidence reveal Khan frequently took contraband substances'.
The plea, filed by advocate Manohar Lal Sharma, termed the notification "illegal, unconstitutional and ultra vires to the law".
The Supreme Court appointed Special Investigative Team, which is looking into the black money cases, on Thursday said it will go after the offenders "big or small" but also made it clear that the confidentiality of account holders abroad will not be violated.
The NCB said all the allegations levelled against the agency in connection with the cruise ship raid and alleged recovery of drugs, in which Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan's son Aryan Khan was arrested, are 'baseless, motivated afterthoughts and prejudicial'.
"There is no evidence of consumption, no recovery of drugs and absolutely no evidence to show his participation in this so-called conspiracy and abetment as alleged by the NCB," Rohatgi said while arguing for Aryan Khan's bail.
Dr Zaheed Qureshi said that when his daughter Shabana married Sameer Wankhede, the latter practised Islam, and would occasionally visit mosques.