Drugs Case: 4-Member Team Formed to Probe Sameer Wankhede 'Extortion' Row

A photo of NCB officer Sameer Wankhede with 'independent witness' KP Gosavi.

(Photo: Accessed by The Quint)

The Mumbai Police on Wednesday, 27 October, appointed a four-member team, supervised by Additional Commissioner of Police (ACP) Dilip Sawant, to investigate the charges of extortion levelled against Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) Zonal Director Sameer Wankhede.

NCB officer Wankhede is probing the high profile Mumbai cruise ship drugs case involving Aryan Khan.

Assisted by DCP Hemrajsingh Bagul as the supervisory officer, the inquiry team also comprises Assistant Commissioner of Police Milind Khetle, Police Inspector Ajay Sawant, Assistant PI Shrikant Karkar, and Sub Inspector Prakash Gawali, news agency PTI reported.

As per the official order, the panel will be responsible for investigating four separate complaints of bribery filed at the MRA Marg Police Station – one by Prabhakar Sail, a key witness, and others by Advocate Sudha Dwivedi, one Kanishk Jain, and Nitin Deshmukh.

The extortion complaints surfaced when witness Prabhakar Sail alleged in an affidavit that Wankhede asked him to sign as panch witness of the drugs case. He further claimed that his signature was taken on 10 blank papers, and said that he overheard discussions of a Rs 18 crore deal between KP Gosavi and one Sam D'Souza.

Consequently, the anti-drugs agency had ordered a vigilance inquiry after the bribery allegations.

(With inputs from PTI.)