Aryan Khan drugs case: Being targeted because of my dead mother, says Sameer Wankhede

The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) zonal director Sameer Wankhede, who is leading an investigation into the drugs bust case involving Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan's son Aryan Khan, said on Monday he was being targeted and is ready for a probe himself.

“My family, including my sister and deceased mother, are being targeted,” Sameer Wankhede told the judge in the special court under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Acts, according to news agency ANI.

The news agency also reported that two affidavits have been filed in the case—one by the NCB and another by Wankhede.

Bar And Bench also reported that the central agency and Sameer Wankhede have moved the Mumbai sessions court seeking directions to prevent attempts to create hurdles and scuttle the ongoing investigation. The NCB has said that there should be no tampering with evidence or the investigation.

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Wankhede's counsel told the court that personal allegations are being made against the official and his family members. "Why are there allegations against my family members? Is it because of my supervisory position? Is it only to divert me and make me fail in court," he asked.

"I am open for any kind of investigation or inquiry. I have 15 years of record. But such allegations only to target my personal life and work is not done," he said.

On Sunday, an independent witness in the cruise drugs case claimed that ₹25 crore was demanded by an NCB official and others, including absconding witness KP Gosavi, to let off Aryan Khan. Prabhakar Sail said that he overheard Gosavi telling someone called Sam D'Souza over the phone about a demand of ₹25 crore after Aryan Khan was brought to the NCB office following the October 2 raid and "to settle at ₹18 crore as they have “to give RS 8 crore to Sameer Wankhede”. He also claimed NCB officials asked him to sign nine to ten blank papers.

However, a senior NCB official denied the allegations as "completely false and malicious".

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Wankhede on Sunday wrote to Mumbai Police commissioner Hemant Nagrale, seeking protection from likely legal action "being planned" against him by unknown persons to falsely frame him concerning an alleged vigilance related issue.

According to Bar And Bench, special public prosecutor Advait Sethna told the court on Monday that releasing such documents will hamper the case, including the bail hearing of Aryan Khan which is listed for hearing in Bombay High Court on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, Maharashtra minister Nawab Malik—who has accused Wankhede of extortion and said that he will lose his job within a year—shared the NCB official’s birth certificate on Twitter saying "Sameer Dawood Wankhede's fraud started from here."

Also read | NCB replies to 'extortion' allegation, Nawab Malik says SIT should probe

After Malik’s tweet, Wankhede said he will fight the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader legally.

“This is an ugly attempt to bring in all the things which are not connected to all this. My mother was a Muslim so does he want to bring my dead mother in all this? To verify my caste and background, anyone can go to my native place and verify my lineage from my great grandfather," Wankhede told ANI.

“But he should not spread this filth like this. I will fight all this legally and don't want to comment much on it outside court,” he added.

An NCB team led by Wankhede busted an alleged drugs party on the cruise ship which was on its way to Goa on October 2. As many as 20 people, including Aryan Khan, have been arrested so far in the case.