News Analysis India

Tag: NCB

  • HC asks CBI not to take ‘coercive action’ against Sameer Wankhede in bribery case till Monday 

    By PTI

    MUMBAI: The Bombay High Court on Friday directed the CBI not to take any “coercive action” such as arrest till May 22 against former NCB zonal director Sameer Wankhede, accused of demanding Rs 25 crore bribe from superstar Shah Rukh Khan for not implicating his son Aryan Khan in the Cordelia cruise `drug bust’ case.

    Wankhede, an Indian Revenue Service official who was posted with the Narcotics Control Bureau here in 2021, has moved the court with a petition seeking to quash the First Information Report (FIR) registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation against him for alleged extortion and bribery.

    A vacation bench of the court passed the order after recording Wankhede’s undertaking that he will remain present at the CBI’s office in Bandra Kurla Complex here at 11 am on Saturday.

    The CBI shall not take any “coercive action” against Wankhede till May 22, the HC said.

    ALSO READ | ‘Punished for being patriot’, says Sameer Wankhede on CBI raids in Rs 25 crore bribery case

    The central agency registered the FIR against Wankhede and four others recently for alleged criminal conspiracy and threat of extortion besides offences related to bribery under the Prevention of Corruption Act on the NCB’s complaint.

    Aryan Khan was arrested by the NCB on October 3, 2021, following alleged drug seizure on board the Cordelia cruise ship here.

    He was granted bail by the high court after three weeks as the anti-drugs agency failed to substantiate its charges against him.

    The CBI alleged that the NCB Mumbai Zone had received information in October 2021 regarding the consumption and possession of narcotic substances by various individuals on the cruise ship, and some NCB officers conspired to get bribes from the accused in return for letting them off.

    The CBI had summoned Wankhede for questioning in Mumbai on Thursday, but he did not appear.

    MUMBAI: The Bombay High Court on Friday directed the CBI not to take any “coercive action” such as arrest till May 22 against former NCB zonal director Sameer Wankhede, accused of demanding Rs 25 crore bribe from superstar Shah Rukh Khan for not implicating his son Aryan Khan in the Cordelia cruise `drug bust’ case.

    Wankhede, an Indian Revenue Service official who was posted with the Narcotics Control Bureau here in 2021, has moved the court with a petition seeking to quash the First Information Report (FIR) registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation against him for alleged extortion and bribery.

    A vacation bench of the court passed the order after recording Wankhede’s undertaking that he will remain present at the CBI’s office in Bandra Kurla Complex here at 11 am on Saturday.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-8052921-2’); });

    The CBI shall not take any “coercive action” against Wankhede till May 22, the HC said.

    ALSO READ | ‘Punished for being patriot’, says Sameer Wankhede on CBI raids in Rs 25 crore bribery case

    The central agency registered the FIR against Wankhede and four others recently for alleged criminal conspiracy and threat of extortion besides offences related to bribery under the Prevention of Corruption Act on the NCB’s complaint.

    Aryan Khan was arrested by the NCB on October 3, 2021, following alleged drug seizure on board the Cordelia cruise ship here.

    He was granted bail by the high court after three weeks as the anti-drugs agency failed to substantiate its charges against him.

    The CBI alleged that the NCB Mumbai Zone had received information in October 2021 regarding the consumption and possession of narcotic substances by various individuals on the cruise ship, and some NCB officers conspired to get bribes from the accused in return for letting them off.

    The CBI had summoned Wankhede for questioning in Mumbai on Thursday, but he did not appear.

  • Drugs seized from Indian waters worth Rs 25,000 crore, says NCB

    By PTI

    KOCHI: Two days after the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) had announced the seizure of over 2,500 kilograms of methamphetamine from a vessel in Indian waters in a joint operation with the Navy, the anti-drug agency on Monday said the actual commercial value of the contraband after its latest evaluation was close to Rs 25,000 crore.

    NCB officials said because of the high purity of the seized methamphetamine, the value of the contraband has increased.

    Initially valued at Rs 12 000 crore, NCB had said that it was the largest seizure of methamphetamine in the country. “Upon our inspection, we found that the quality of the seized contraband is very high. Currently, the estimated street value of the drugs are at around Rs 25,000 crore,” a senior official of the NCB told PTI.

    The official said various agencies have come together and they are probing the Pakistan links to the seizure. “The Pakistani national, who was detained will be produced before the court here this evening and we will seek his custody,” the official said.

    The officials said the product was packed in such a professional manner that even if it was aboard a ship for a longer duration, the moisture will not affect the drugs. “The plastic boxes have various signages or emblems on top of it and we suspect that multiple drug manufacturing labs were involved in it,” the official said.

    Giving details of the seizure at a press conference held here on Saturday, NCB Deputy Director General (Ops) Sanjay Kumar Singh had said that it was carried out as part of ‘Operation Samudragupt’ which targeted maritime trafficking of drugs originating from Afghanistan.

    This is the third major seizure by NCB of maritime trafficking of drugs through the southern route in the last one and a half years, the agency had said adding that as part of the operation, so far around 3,200 kg of methamphetamine, 500 kg of heroin and 529 kg of hashish have been seized.

    The agency claimed that the latest consignment of over 2,500 kg of methamphetamine was meant for India, Sri Lanka and Maldives from Afghanistan.

    The drug cache had started on a “mother ship” — a large vessel that distributes narcotics to various boats during its journey — from the Makran coast around Pakistan and Iran, it said.

    As many as 134 sacks of suspected methamphetamine, the intercepted boat and some other items salvaged from the ship along with the Pakistani national were brought to Mattancherry Wharf and handed over by the Navy to the NCB, it said.

    KOCHI: Two days after the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) had announced the seizure of over 2,500 kilograms of methamphetamine from a vessel in Indian waters in a joint operation with the Navy, the anti-drug agency on Monday said the actual commercial value of the contraband after its latest evaluation was close to Rs 25,000 crore.

    NCB officials said because of the high purity of the seized methamphetamine, the value of the contraband has increased.

    Initially valued at Rs 12 000 crore, NCB had said that it was the largest seizure of methamphetamine in the country. “Upon our inspection, we found that the quality of the seized contraband is very high. Currently, the estimated street value of the drugs are at around Rs 25,000 crore,” a senior official of the NCB told PTI.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-8052921-2’); });

    The official said various agencies have come together and they are probing the Pakistan links to the seizure. “The Pakistani national, who was detained will be produced before the court here this evening and we will seek his custody,” the official said.

    The officials said the product was packed in such a professional manner that even if it was aboard a ship for a longer duration, the moisture will not affect the drugs. “The plastic boxes have various signages or emblems on top of it and we suspect that multiple drug manufacturing labs were involved in it,” the official said.

    Giving details of the seizure at a press conference held here on Saturday, NCB Deputy Director General (Ops) Sanjay Kumar Singh had said that it was carried out as part of ‘Operation Samudragupt’ which targeted maritime trafficking of drugs originating from Afghanistan.

    This is the third major seizure by NCB of maritime trafficking of drugs through the southern route in the last one and a half years, the agency had said adding that as part of the operation, so far around 3,200 kg of methamphetamine, 500 kg of heroin and 529 kg of hashish have been seized.

    The agency claimed that the latest consignment of over 2,500 kg of methamphetamine was meant for India, Sri Lanka and Maldives from Afghanistan.

    The drug cache had started on a “mother ship” — a large vessel that distributes narcotics to various boats during its journey — from the Makran coast around Pakistan and Iran, it said.

    As many as 134 sacks of suspected methamphetamine, the intercepted boat and some other items salvaged from the ship along with the Pakistani national were brought to Mattancherry Wharf and handed over by the Navy to the NCB, it said.

  • ‘Punished for being patriot’, says Sameer Wankhede on CBI raids in Rs 25 crore bribery case

    By Agencies

    MUMBAI: Former Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) officer, Sameer Wankhede, who is accused of allegedly demanding Rs 25 crore as a bribe for not framing Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan Khan in the drugs-on-cruise case, on Saturday alleged that he was being punished for being a patriot.

    Wankhede’s statement came in response to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) raids raiding his residence and other premises on Friday.

    Wankhede alleged that 18 CBI officials yesterday raided his house while his wife and children were present in his house. “I am getting rewarded for being a patriot, yesterday 18 CBI officials raided my residence and searched it for more than 12 hours while my wife and children were present in the house. They found Rs 23,000 and four property papers. These assets were acquired before I joined the service,” said Wankhede, as quoted by ANI.

    Wankhede further claimed that CBI officials also took the phone of his wife Kranti Redkar in their possession. 

    On May 12, the CBI registered a case against Sameer Wankhede and three others in connection with a corruption case related to the Aryan Khan drugs-on-cruise case.

    According to reports, the CBI had received information that Sameer Wankhede and his accomplice allegedly collected Rs 50 lakhs as advance to not frame Aryan Khan in the drug case.

    The CBI on May 12 had also conducted searches at 29 locations in Mumbai, Delhi, Ranchi, Lucknow, Guwahati and Chennai after filing the FIR against the 2008-batch IRS officer Wankhede and four others — then NCB Superintendent Vishwa Vijay Singh, Intelligence Officer Ashish Ranjan and two private persons K P Gosavi and Sanvile D’Souza — in the case.

    The official statement reads thus, “It has been alleged that the said officials of Narcotics Control Bureau of Mumbai Zone, in order to obtain undue advantage from the persons/ others in the Case No. 94/2021 of Mumbai Zone, earlier registered & investigated under the supervision of then Zonal Director of Mumbai Zone of NCB, had entered into criminal conspiracy with others and had allegedly obtained undue advantage in the form of bribes from the alleged accused of Case No. 94/2021 of NCB Mumbai Zone.”

    The probe agency alleged the NCB, Mumbai Zone had received information in October, 2021 related to the consumption and possession of narcotics substances by various individuals on a private cruise ship.

    “It has also been alleged that the said persons entered into conspiracy in order to extort an amount of Rs 25 crore (approx) from family members of the alleged accused of the case No.94/2021 of NCB, Mumbai, by threatening them of the accusation of offences of possession of narcotics substances as per the alleged directions of then zonal director (Wankhede) being the supervisory officer,” a CBI spokesperson told PTI.

    Wankhede had raided Cordelia Cruise and arrested Aryan Khan in an alleged drug case. 

    Aryan Khan, who was formally arrested by the NCB on October 3, 2021, was granted bail by the Bombay High Court on October 28, 2021 after spending 25 days in jail.

    The NCB on May 27, 2022 also filed a 6,000-page charge sheet against 14 accused, giving a clean chit to Aryan Khan.

    NCB officials said Aryan Khan and five others were not named in the agency’s charge sheet due to “lack of sufficient evidence”.

    Wankhede, who headed the Narcotics Control Bureau Zonal Unit in Mumbai at the time of Aryan Khan’s arrest, was transferred to the DG Taxpayer Service Directorate in Chennai in May last year.

    The much-hyped case took a twist when an ‘independent witness’ had claimed in 2021 that Rs 25 crore was demanded by an NCB official and other persons, including a witness Gosavi, to let off Aryan Khan.

    Prabhakar Sail, the ‘independent witness’, now deceased, had told media persons that he had overheard Gosavi telling D’Souza over the phone about the demand of Rs 25 crore after Aryan Khan was brought to the NCB office after the October 2 raid.

    He also claimed NCB officials had asked him to sign nine to ten blank papers.

    However, a senior NCB official had denied the allegations, terming them as “completely false and malicious”.

    (With PTI, ANI inputs)

    MUMBAI: Former Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) officer, Sameer Wankhede, who is accused of allegedly demanding Rs 25 crore as a bribe for not framing Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan Khan in the drugs-on-cruise case, on Saturday alleged that he was being punished for being a patriot.

    Wankhede’s statement came in response to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) raids raiding his residence and other premises on Friday.

    Wankhede alleged that 18 CBI officials yesterday raided his house while his wife and children were present in his house. “I am getting rewarded for being a patriot, yesterday 18 CBI officials raided my residence and searched it for more than 12 hours while my wife and children were present in the house. They found Rs 23,000 and four property papers. These assets were acquired before I joined the service,” said Wankhede, as quoted by ANI.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-8052921-2’); });

    Wankhede further claimed that CBI officials also took the phone of his wife Kranti Redkar in their possession. 

    On May 12, the CBI registered a case against Sameer Wankhede and three others in connection with a corruption case related to the Aryan Khan drugs-on-cruise case.

    According to reports, the CBI had received information that Sameer Wankhede and his accomplice allegedly collected Rs 50 lakhs as advance to not frame Aryan Khan in the drug case.

    The CBI on May 12 had also conducted searches at 29 locations in Mumbai, Delhi, Ranchi, Lucknow, Guwahati and Chennai after filing the FIR against the 2008-batch IRS officer Wankhede and four others — then NCB Superintendent Vishwa Vijay Singh, Intelligence Officer Ashish Ranjan and two private persons K P Gosavi and Sanvile D’Souza — in the case.

    The official statement reads thus, “It has been alleged that the said officials of Narcotics Control Bureau of Mumbai Zone, in order to obtain undue advantage from the persons/ others in the Case No. 94/2021 of Mumbai Zone, earlier registered & investigated under the supervision of then Zonal Director of Mumbai Zone of NCB, had entered into criminal conspiracy with others and had allegedly obtained undue advantage in the form of bribes from the alleged accused of Case No. 94/2021 of NCB Mumbai Zone.”

    The probe agency alleged the NCB, Mumbai Zone had received information in October, 2021 related to the consumption and possession of narcotics substances by various individuals on a private cruise ship.

    “It has also been alleged that the said persons entered into conspiracy in order to extort an amount of Rs 25 crore (approx) from family members of the alleged accused of the case No.94/2021 of NCB, Mumbai, by threatening them of the accusation of offences of possession of narcotics substances as per the alleged directions of then zonal director (Wankhede) being the supervisory officer,” a CBI spokesperson told PTI.

    Wankhede had raided Cordelia Cruise and arrested Aryan Khan in an alleged drug case. 

    Aryan Khan, who was formally arrested by the NCB on October 3, 2021, was granted bail by the Bombay High Court on October 28, 2021 after spending 25 days in jail.

    The NCB on May 27, 2022 also filed a 6,000-page charge sheet against 14 accused, giving a clean chit to Aryan Khan.

    NCB officials said Aryan Khan and five others were not named in the agency’s charge sheet due to “lack of sufficient evidence”.

    Wankhede, who headed the Narcotics Control Bureau Zonal Unit in Mumbai at the time of Aryan Khan’s arrest, was transferred to the DG Taxpayer Service Directorate in Chennai in May last year.

    The much-hyped case took a twist when an ‘independent witness’ had claimed in 2021 that Rs 25 crore was demanded by an NCB official and other persons, including a witness Gosavi, to let off Aryan Khan.

    Prabhakar Sail, the ‘independent witness’, now deceased, had told media persons that he had overheard Gosavi telling D’Souza over the phone about the demand of Rs 25 crore after Aryan Khan was brought to the NCB office after the October 2 raid.

    He also claimed NCB officials had asked him to sign nine to ten blank papers.

    However, a senior NCB official had denied the allegations, terming them as “completely false and malicious”.

    (With PTI, ANI inputs)

  • ‘Drugs made in Punjab labs, sent to Chandigarh clubs’

    Express News Service

    CHANDIGARH:  This drug ring spread its tentacles from Dubai, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. In India, the racket carried the stuff to Ludhiana in Punjab, via J&K, where it was processed in ‘labs’ owned by two Afghan nationals staying on medical visas. The real surprise for sleuths came when aides were found supplying drugs to nightclubs and restaurants in Chandigarh.

    The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) said on Monday it has arrested 16 suspects in the last few days after busting an international drug syndicate. NCB sources said the suspects were linked to groups in Delhi’s Shaheen Bagh and UP’s Muzaffarnagar. NCB deputy director general (northern region) Gyaneshwar Singh said the suspects were found with over 34 kg heroin, 5 kg morphine, 23.645 kg suspected narcotics powder, opium besides other substances and ammunition.

    The NCB said the drug ring had links to a previous case in Shaheen Bagh and UP towns from where over 150kg of drugs were recovered by Gujarat’s Anti-Terrorism Squad and Delhi Police. “This group exploited legal channels to smuggle drugs. Investigation showed that some importers gave them cover by giving them legal papers,’’ Singh said.

    CHANDIGARH:  This drug ring spread its tentacles from Dubai, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. In India, the racket carried the stuff to Ludhiana in Punjab, via J&K, where it was processed in ‘labs’ owned by two Afghan nationals staying on medical visas. The real surprise for sleuths came when aides were found supplying drugs to nightclubs and restaurants in Chandigarh.

    The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) said on Monday it has arrested 16 suspects in the last few days after busting an international drug syndicate. NCB sources said the suspects were linked to groups in Delhi’s Shaheen Bagh and UP’s Muzaffarnagar. NCB deputy director general (northern region) Gyaneshwar Singh said the suspects were found with over 34 kg heroin, 5 kg morphine, 23.645 kg suspected narcotics powder, opium besides other substances and ammunition.

    The NCB said the drug ring had links to a previous case in Shaheen Bagh and UP towns from where over 150kg of drugs were recovered by Gujarat’s Anti-Terrorism Squad and Delhi Police. “This group exploited legal channels to smuggle drugs. Investigation showed that some importers gave them cover by giving them legal papers,’’ Singh said.

  • NCB files charge-sheet against comedian Bharti Singh, her husband in 2020 drug case

    By PTI

    MUMBAI: The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) has filed a charge sheet against comedian Bharti Singh, her husband Haarsh Limbachiyaa and a drug peddler in connection with a 2020 drug case, a senior official said on Saturday.

    The charge sheet, which runs into around 1,200 pages, was submitted by the NCB in a court here recently, he said.

    The couple was arrested by the anti-drug agency in November 2020 following the seizure of ganja (cannabis) at their residence in suburban Andheri, the official said.

    Both the accused were booked under various sections of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, including section 8 (c) (possession of drugs) and 27 (consumption of drugs), he said.

    During the investigation, the NCB team had arrested one more person who had played a role in the supply of the banned drug, he said.

    Accordingly, the NCB team investigated the case and submitted the charge sheet a few weeks ago, he said.

    The couple was granted bail after two days of custody on a bond of Rs 15,000 each, he said.

    MUMBAI: The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) has filed a charge sheet against comedian Bharti Singh, her husband Haarsh Limbachiyaa and a drug peddler in connection with a 2020 drug case, a senior official said on Saturday.

    The charge sheet, which runs into around 1,200 pages, was submitted by the NCB in a court here recently, he said.

    The couple was arrested by the anti-drug agency in November 2020 following the seizure of ganja (cannabis) at their residence in suburban Andheri, the official said.

    Both the accused were booked under various sections of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, including section 8 (c) (possession of drugs) and 27 (consumption of drugs), he said.

    During the investigation, the NCB team had arrested one more person who had played a role in the supply of the banned drug, he said.

    Accordingly, the NCB team investigated the case and submitted the charge sheet a few weeks ago, he said.

    The couple was granted bail after two days of custody on a bond of Rs 15,000 each, he said.

  • Caste panel gives clean chit to ex-NCB officer Sameer Wankhede, says he is from SC community not Muslim

    By PTI

    MUMBAI: Former Mumbai zonal director of the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) Sameer Wankhede, who was being probed for allegedly submitting a fake caste certificate for getting a government job, was given a clean chit by the caste scrutiny committee, an official said on Saturday.

    The order was issued by the Social Justice Department of the Maharashtra government on Friday, an official said.

    The order says that Wankhede, an Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer, was not a Muslim by birth and it has been proven that he belongs to Mahar caste, which is a Scheduled Caste (SC).

    The issue of Wankhede’s caste was raised by former Maharashtra minister and NCP leader Nawab Malik. Applications were filed by the complainants, including political leader Manoj Sansare, Ashok Kamble and Sanjay Kamble, against Wankhede.

    Mumbai district caste certificate verification committee examined the complaints and passed an order on the same on Friday.

    ALSO READ | Sameer Wankhede, former NCB officer who probed drugs-on-cruise case, transferred to Chennai

    The order says that it was not proven that Wankhede and his father Dnyandev Wankhede renounced Hinduism and duly converted to Islam.

    It is proven that Wankhede and his father-in-law belong to the Scheduled Caste that is Mahar-37, the order stated.

    Complaints filed by Nawab Malik and others regarding the caste claim of Wankhede and regarding the religion of the caste certificate are not substantiated, following which complaints are being rejected due to lack of the facts in the complaint, the order said.

    Wankhede had come to the limelight following the high-profile October 2021 raids by the NCB on a Mumbai cruise after which the agency had arrested Aryan Khan, son of actor Shah Rukh Khan, and 19 others and claimed to have seized some narcotics too. The NCB had later given a clean chit to Aryan Khan. 

    MUMBAI: Former Mumbai zonal director of the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) Sameer Wankhede, who was being probed for allegedly submitting a fake caste certificate for getting a government job, was given a clean chit by the caste scrutiny committee, an official said on Saturday.

    The order was issued by the Social Justice Department of the Maharashtra government on Friday, an official said.

    The order says that Wankhede, an Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer, was not a Muslim by birth and it has been proven that he belongs to Mahar caste, which is a Scheduled Caste (SC).

    The issue of Wankhede’s caste was raised by former Maharashtra minister and NCP leader Nawab Malik. Applications were filed by the complainants, including political leader Manoj Sansare, Ashok Kamble and Sanjay Kamble, against Wankhede.

    Mumbai district caste certificate verification committee examined the complaints and passed an order on the same on Friday.

    ALSO READ | Sameer Wankhede, former NCB officer who probed drugs-on-cruise case, transferred to Chennai

    The order says that it was not proven that Wankhede and his father Dnyandev Wankhede renounced Hinduism and duly converted to Islam.

    It is proven that Wankhede and his father-in-law belong to the Scheduled Caste that is Mahar-37, the order stated.

    Complaints filed by Nawab Malik and others regarding the caste claim of Wankhede and regarding the religion of the caste certificate are not substantiated, following which complaints are being rejected due to lack of the facts in the complaint, the order said.

    Wankhede had come to the limelight following the high-profile October 2021 raids by the NCB on a Mumbai cruise after which the agency had arrested Aryan Khan, son of actor Shah Rukh Khan, and 19 others and claimed to have seized some narcotics too. The NCB had later given a clean chit to Aryan Khan. 

  • Cruiseship case: Special court takes cognisance of NCB’s chargesheet, issues summons to accused

    By PTI

    MUMBAI: A special NDPS court here on Friday took cognisance of the chargesheet filed by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) in the drugs-on-cruise case. Special judge VV Patil, presiding the case, said that he perused chargesheet and chemical analysis report of the seized banned substances.

    The reports are positive and hence, there is sufficient material to take cognisance, he said, directing all the accused to remain present before the court on July 12. The anti-drugs agency had arrested 20 people including Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan Khan, after raiding the Goa-bound ship in October last year.

    The probe agency filed a chargesheet in May against 14 accused only, while giving clean chit to six, including Aryan Khan, due to lack of evidence. Of the 14 accused, two are currently in jail, while the rest are out on bail.

  • Will NCB now act against Sameer Wankhede, asks jailed Maharashtra Minister Nawab Malik

    By PTI

    MUMBAI: Maharashtra Minister Nawab Malik on Friday asked if the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) will take action against IRS official Sameer Wankhede and “his private army” now that it has given a clean chit to Aryan Khan in an alleged drug seizure case.

    While Malik is in prison in an alleged money laundering case, his comment was published through the Twitter account ‘Office of Nawab Malik’.

    “Now that Aryan Khan and 5 others get a clean chit. Will NCB take action against Sameer Wankhede his team and the private army? Or will it shield the culprits? ” said the tweet, accompanied by hashtags `Farziwada exposed’ and ‘Truth prevails’.

    Malik, a Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader, was the first to question the raid conducted by Wankhede, then zonal director of the NCB in Mumbai, on a cruise ship last October during which Aryan and others were arrested.

    The minister had launched a veritable campaign against Wankhede, accusing him of implicating Aryan in a false case to extort money from his father, Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan.

    Malik also questioned the genuineness of the scheduled caste certificate of Wankhede, an Indian Revenue Service official.

  • Nawab Malik says NCB wants to take over ‘top five’ drug cases from Maharashtra police, questions motive

    By PTI

    MUMBAI: Maharashtra minister Nawab Malik on Friday said the NCB has asked the state police’s Anti Narcotics Cell (ANC) to transfer its “top five cases” to the central agency, and questioned the Union government’s intentions.

    The Narcotics Control Bureau’s (NCB) letter to the ANC attributed the decision to Union Home Minister Amit Shah, he claimed in a video shared on social media.

    He also shared the text of the purported letter.

    NCB Director General S N Pradhan wrote to Maharashtra Director General of Police on November 24 asking for a list of five cases fit to be handed over to the NCB, said the senior NCP leader.

    The letter sought that state governments prepare lists of cases having “inter-state and international” ramifications and consider handing them over to the NCB to help it unearth entire networks, he said.

    “We want to know what is the criteria for (selecting) top five cases. Are they the ones which garnered a lot of publicity?” Malik said.

    Why the rights of the states were being infringed upon in this manner despite there being no provision in the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act for such a take-over, he asked.

    “Is there an ulterior motive? NCB must answer the citizens of India,” Malik, who has been attacking the Central agency on a host of issues centering on the arrest of Aryan Khan in an alleged drugs case, tweeted.

  • No evidence against Aryan Khan, WhatsApp chats not objectionable: Bombay HC on cruise drugs case

    By Express News Service

    MUMBAI: There is no evidence of any conspiracy between Aryan Khan, Arbaaz Merchant and Munmun Dhamecha to commit drug-related offences and there is also nothing objectionable in the WhatsApp conversations between them, the Bombay High Court said in its bail order released on Saturday.

    The high court uploaded the detailed bail order in the drug case and stated that the trio did not conspire to commit the offence under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act. The court on October 28 had granted bail to all the three accused.

    “Prima facie there is no evidence against Aryan Khan and the other two accused. The court also rejects the hatching the conspiracy plan claimed by the NCB by this trio,” the order stated.

    The court rejected the NCB’s argument that since Section 29 of the NDPS Act pertaining to conspiracy was applicable, rigours for bail under Section 37 of the NDPS Act would apply and the cumulative quantity recovered should be considered.

    The court noted that no drug was found in Aryan’s possession while the quantity recovered from Arbaz and Munmun were “small” quantities under the NDPS Act. In such a scenario, in order to invoke offence of conspiracy against the accused, there has to be positive evidence about an agreement to do an unlawful act or to do lawful act by unlawful means and such agreement must precede with meeting of minds, the court said.

    But there was no such material in the instant case, the court held. As per the presented material, it showed that Aryan and Arbaz were travelling together while Munmum had an independent travel plan. The court observed that merely because Aryan Khan, Arbaaz Merchant and Munmun Dhamecha were travelling in the same cruise, that by itself cannot be a foundation for the charge of conspiracy.

    The accused were not even subject to a medical examination to determine whether at relevant time they had consumed drugs. The court also stated that the confession statement of the accused presented by the NCB could not be cited as evidence considering the Supreme Court observations in the Tofan Singh versus State of Tamil Nadu.

    Therefore, the NCB claim of the accused admitting their crime must be rejected. Aryan was taken into custody by the NCB on October 2 after the agency raided a cruise ship en route to Goa from Mumbai. He was arrested from the terminal to the cruise.