Narcotics Control Bureau’s (NCB) Mumbai Zonal Director Sameer Wankhede, who is supervising the drugs case probe against actor Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan Khan, met senior agency officials at its Delhi headquarters on Tuesday.
Terming all the allegations against him baseless, Mr. Wankhede told reporters at the airport that he had not been summoned in connection with the case. After attending a pre-scheduled meeting on Tuesday morning, he arrived at the NCB headquarters around 12.30 p.m. and met senior officials.
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The visit came amid several charges levelled against Mr. Wankhede by Maharashtra Minister and Nationalist Congress Party leader Nawab Malik and others.
On Monday, Mr. Malik had said: “Sameer Dawood Wankhede is a Muslim by birth. He forged a caste certificate claiming to be Scheduled Caste. I have given his birth certificate which mentions his father’s name as Dawood Wankhede, who had converted to Islam. He used fake caste certificate and denied a true Dalit the opportunity to become the officer.”
In response, Mr. Wankhede issued a statement saying he belonged to a composite, multi-religious and secular family in true Indian tradition and was proud of his heritage. “The publishing of my personal documents on Twitter is defamatory in nature and unnecessary invasion of my family privacy. It is intended to malign me, my family, my father and my late mother,” he said.
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“The series of acts of Hon’ble Minister over the past few days have put me and my family under tremendous mental and emotional pressure. I am pained by the nature of personal, defamatory and slanderous attacks by Hon’ble Minister without any justification,” said Mr. Wankhede.
Meanwhile, a copy of an affidavit filed by Prabhakar R. Sail, one of the independent witnesses in the case involving Aryan Khan, has been sent to the agency’s vigilance wing for scrutiny. In the affidavit, which has not been filed before any court, Mr. Sail purportedly claimed that he was made to sign on eight to 10 blank papers and that ₹25 crore was demanded to let off Aryan Khan.
In another development, a five-member team of the NCB’s vigilance unit, headed by Deputy Director General Gyaneshwar Singh, is expected to reach Mumbai on Wednesday for an inquiry.