Sameer Wankhede’s stint with anti-drugs bureau to end on December 31

IRS officer Sameer Wankhede’s tenure with the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), which was marked by controversy, will end on December 31, sources said on Friday.

Wankhede, a 2008 batch Indian Revenue Service officer, was on deputation to the NCB since September 2020 and is currently Mumbai zonal director of the anti-drugs agency.

He was earlier posted with the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence.

As zonal director of NCB, Wankhede worked on cases against drug syndicates allegedly involving Bollywood celebrities in the aftermath of actor Sushant Singh Rajput’s death by suicide.

In October this year, a team led by him allegedly recovered drugs during a raid on a cruise ship off the Mumbai coast, and arrested actor Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan along with others.

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But subsequently questions were raised about the credentials of independent witnesses used by the NCB during the raid, and it was also alleged that there was an attempt to extort money from Khan by NCB officials.

Maharashtra minister Nawab Malik targeted Wankhede, alleging that he was born a Muslim but got his job in the Scheduled Castes quota by obtaining a bogus caste certificate.

Wankhede denied the allegation and his father filed a defamation suit against Malik, an NCP leader.

It is not yet clear where he will be posted after his NCB deputation ends, the sources said.