Drugs-on-cruise case: SIT to fix responsibility of NCB officials
Darpan News Desk IANS, 27 May, 2022 11:23 AM
New Delhi, May 27 (IANS) The SIT formed in the drugs-on-cruise case might be filing a report with the Ministry of Home Affairs to fix responsibility for conducting shoddy probe in the matter, sources in the Narcotics Control Bureau have suggested.
The report will fix the responsibility of the officials who were involved in the investigation due to which Aryan Khan and others were given clean chit in the case. The MHA is keeping a close eye on the matter.
Earlier, NCB official Ashish Ranjan Prasad was placed under suspension. Later his suspension was revoked and he was transferred to CISF. Another NCB official who faced the music was Intelligence Official V.V. Singh who filled the arrest memo of Aryan Khan, son of mega star Shahrukh Khan. Singh was placed under suspension which has not been revoked as of now.
Sameer Wankhede, who was heading the Mumbai Zone of the NCB, was sent to the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI). Vishwanath Tripathi, who was the part of the NCB team which conducted the raid was also suspended.
Sources have said that the officials who directly or indirectly implicated any innocent in the matter will not be spared. If any person who was travelling on Cordelia Cruise was falsely booked, the official can face the music. The team which conducted raid at Cordelia Cruise committed huge blunders -- chats leaked to media before the court hearing was one of them.
Action can be suggested against a few officials for not conducting the blood test of Aryan Khan before placing him under arrest. The SIT has also learnt that some witnesses were not trustworthy but they assisted the NCB team in the raid. They only harmed the NCB reputation and its investigation.
"The NDPS sections which were added into the case to prevent Aryan Khan from getting bail will also be looked into. There were allegations of harassments levelled by Ananya Pandey and others. When allegations of extortion were levelled it was taken very seriously by the SIT. A report will be prepared to finalize the responsibility of the officials," the source said.
This report is likely to be shared with the MHA next month.
On Monday, after a detailed hearing in the matter, a bench, headed by Chief Justice N.V. Ramana and comprising Justices Surya Kant and Hima Kohli, said the court will set up a committee headed by a retired top court judge to probe the PM's security breach and asked both the Centre and Punjab government to not move ahead with their respective inquiries into the matter.
Several Supreme Court advocates on Monday claimed to have received an international call with a recorded message asking the apex court not to help the Central government by taking up a case connected with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's security breach in Punjab last week.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Congress are projected to poll 40 per cent and 36 per cent votes in Punjab, respectively, as per the ABP-CVOTER Battle for the States survey. The 117-member Punjab Assembly will go to the polls on February 14, and the counting of votes will be taken up on March 10.
The highest quantity has been procured from Punjab (1,86,85,53 MT) followed by Chhattisgarh (67,65,986 MT) and Telangana (65,54,739 MT) while the highest number of farmers benefitted in are Chhattisgarh (16,90,459), Telangana (9,67,134) and Punjab (9,24,299).
Hockey is one of the most popular sports in Punjab and many players from the state have been integral parts of the national team. The 117-member Punjab Assembly will go to the polls on February 14, while the counting of votes will be taken up on March 10.
The Supreme Court on Friday directed the Registrar General of Punjab and Haryana High Court to secure and preserve all records in connection with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Punjab, and also asked the state and Central committees to refrain from conducting inquiries till Monday, when it will take up the matter again.
