NCB, Mumbai Police probe graft charges against Sameer Wankhede
Darpan News Desk IANS, 27 Oct, 2021 12:06 PM
Mumbai, Oct 27 (IANS) Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) vigilance team and an ACP-level Mumbai Police officer have launched independent probes into the allegations of 'extortion' and other issues against the NCB Zonal Director Sameer Wankhede, here on Wednesday.
The NCB team arrived here this afternoon and is understood to have recorded Wankhede's statement besides summoning a 'Panch-Witness' Prabhakar Sail for probe.
At least four complaints lodged against Wankhede in different police stations in Mumbai will now be handled by the ACP who will investigate and prepare his report in the matter.
"We have started the probe. This is a very sensitive investigation, too early to share anything. We shall inquire all aspects and later inform the media of the developments," NCB vigilance team member Dnyaneshwar Singh told mediapersons briefly.
The two independent probes follow the series of allegations against Wankhede coming vide Sail's affidavit of October 23, besides the serial exposes undertaken by Nationalist Congress Party Minister Nawab Malik in the past three weeks.
Among other things, Sail had claimed that another NCB 'Panch-Witness' was allegedly acting as a conduit to extort Rs 18-crore from Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan of which Rs 8-crore was reportedly intended for Wankhede.
In Mumbai, at least 4 separate complaints have been lodged against the NCB officer on various counts, which the ACP level officer will investigate.
Former India opener Gautam Gambhir has slammed ex-Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi after the latter said that he will soon visit the Line of Control (LoC) to "express solidarity with our Kashmiri brethren"
The Indian Space Research Organisation has begun the process of short-listing probable candidates for its first manned mission and it should be completed by next month, a senior official said.
On I-Day eve, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, speaking exclusively to IANS just days after his government's decision on Article 370 noted how he was troubled and saddened by the fact that the 73rd Amendment to the Constitution pertaining to Panchayati Raj institutions did not apply to Jammu and Kashmir.
