NCB, Mumbai Police probe graft charges against Sameer Wankhede
Darpan News Desk IANS, 27 Oct, 2021 12:06 PM
Mumbai, Oct 27 (IANS) Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) vigilance team and an ACP-level Mumbai Police officer have launched independent probes into the allegations of 'extortion' and other issues against the NCB Zonal Director Sameer Wankhede, here on Wednesday.
The NCB team arrived here this afternoon and is understood to have recorded Wankhede's statement besides summoning a 'Panch-Witness' Prabhakar Sail for probe.
At least four complaints lodged against Wankhede in different police stations in Mumbai will now be handled by the ACP who will investigate and prepare his report in the matter.
"We have started the probe. This is a very sensitive investigation, too early to share anything. We shall inquire all aspects and later inform the media of the developments," NCB vigilance team member Dnyaneshwar Singh told mediapersons briefly.
The two independent probes follow the series of allegations against Wankhede coming vide Sail's affidavit of October 23, besides the serial exposes undertaken by Nationalist Congress Party Minister Nawab Malik in the past three weeks.
Among other things, Sail had claimed that another NCB 'Panch-Witness' was allegedly acting as a conduit to extort Rs 18-crore from Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan of which Rs 8-crore was reportedly intended for Wankhede.
In Mumbai, at least 4 separate complaints have been lodged against the NCB officer on various counts, which the ACP level officer will investigate.
The petition alleged that as per the video of the meeting, the CM was asking party workers to make "500-600-1,000 volunteers" in every district of north and west Haryana, and be ready to "face sticks, imprisonment", which will make them "big leaders".
He trashed allegations that the Border Security Force (BSF) would take over the state's administration or will be deployed in the Golden Temple, and said such misconceptions were being spread by certain people to score brownie points in the run-up to the Assembly elections.
Accusing the BJP of only serving the corporates, he said the BJP government is committed to serve the industrialists who have already set up silos and other infrastructure because of the farm laws.
Claiming that the Delhi government has not withheld a single penny from the MCD, he alleged that the BJP has used its revenues earned from toll tax and advertisements for "illegal purposes". He also said that the saffron party has floated a tender for medicines, which cannot be procured before December.
An indication in this regard came on Tuesday when his media advisor Raveen Thukral extended an invite to the media for Amarinder Singh's press briefing in Chandigarh.
Concerned over the manner in which Bollywood is being "targeted" by the Narcotics Control Bureau for the past over one year, Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray will write to the Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the issue, Maharashtra Minister Nawab Malik said on Tuesday.
