Cordelia drugs bust case: NCB let off 17 including drug peddler, says CBI
Of the 27 people rounded up during a raid on Goa-bound Cordelia cruise ship on October 2, 2021, the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) chose to put 10 names in its first information note, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has said in its FIR registered on May 11
Of the 27 people rounded up during a raid on Goa-bound Cordelia cruise ship on October 2, 2021, the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) chose to put 10 names in its first information note, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has said in its FIR registered on May 11. Those whose names were dropped from the list included a peddler who had allegedly supplied charas to Arbaaz Merchant, friend of actor Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan, the agency claimed.
Both Arbaaz and Aryan were arrested for alleged possession, consumption, and buying and selling of drugs but Aryan was later given a clean chit by the NCB’s special investigation team (SIT).
CBI sources said NCB’s then zonal director, Sameer Wankhede, who had supervised the search operation and was named in the FIR, is likely to be summoned for questioning this week.
“NCB’s special enquiry team (SET) found that on October 2, 2021, names of certain suspects were dropped from the first information note, while names of others were subsequently added to suit the proceedings. The initial I-note contained 27 names and the modified one had only 10 names,” the FIR said.
Apart from Wankhede, the CBI has booked then NCB superintendent Vishwa Vijay Singh and then intelligence officer Ashish Ranjan Prasad along with two private individuals - Kiran P Gosavi who is into an import-export business and his associate Sanvile D’souza - under the Prevention of Corruption Act and the Indian Penal Code.
During the search, the FIR claimed, Arbaaz accepted that he had kept charas in a zip-lock pouch hidden in his shoes and voluntarily handed it over to Prasad. However, a search of several others whose names were available with the three NCB officers was done but it was not documented, the FIR further said.
“Siddharth Shah, who had allegedly supplied charas to Arbaz, was also allowed to walk free by these NCB officers even though he accepted that he had received money from Arbaz to buy drugs and there were incriminating chats showing that he himself was consuming drugs,” the FIR added.
The CBI’s FIR is based on the findings of the NCB’s SET, which was formed under the chairmanship of then deputy director general and chief vigilance officer, Gyaneshwar Singh, on October 25, 2021, around three weeks after the alleged drug bust.
The SET was set up after Prabhakar Sail, a panch witness, made startling revelations in the case. “The SET was formed to conduct an inquiry into the allegations of improper/dishonest performance of duty by certain officials of NCB, Mumbai zone, in order to obtain undue advantage from the persons/suspects in the case number 94 of 2021, which was registered and investigated under the immediate supervision of Sameer Wankhede, the then zonal director of NCB,” the FIR said.
The FIR also talked about the SET’s probe into the allegations of criminal misconduct and corrupt practices by Wankhede and Prasad who allegedly could not justify their acquired assets against their declared income. “It had also come to the notice of the vigilance branch of the NCB that Wankhede had not properly explained his foreign visits and had apparently mis-declared the expenditure on his foreign travels.”
Quoting the SET findings, the FIR said, “It was also found that Wankhede had indulged himself in the sale and purchase of expensive wrist watches with a private entity, Viral Rajan, without intimating the department (present or parent).”
A team of the NCB’s Mumbai zonal unit had on October 2, 2021, conducted a search at Green Gate – the entry gate of the international cruise terminal building of Mumbai Port Trust where Cordelia was anchored. All the suspects were searched and drugs such as MDMA/ecstasy, cocaine, MD (mephedrone) and charas were allegedly seized, NCB officers had said. The agency arrested Aryan and seven others, including two women. However, in May 2022, the NCB’s SIT reinvestigated the case and gave a clean chit to Aryan Khan and five others and dropped their names from the array of accused, for lack of adequate evidence.
The NCB officers and private individuals named in the CBI FIR are accused of conspiring to extort ₹25 crore from Shah Rukh Khan in lieu of not booking his son for possession of narcotics, and subsequently obtaining a bribe of ₹50 lakh from him, agency officials said.
The FIR, which was registered on the NCB’s request, has invoked sections relevant to offences including of public servant being bribed, taking undue advantage to influence public servant by corrupt or illegal means, obtaining valuable things without consideration, criminal conspiracy, and extortion by threat among others.
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