NCB zonal director Sameer Wankhede meets Mumbai police chief

Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) zonal director Sameer Wankhede on Tuesday evening met Mumbai police commissioner Hemant Nagrale here, an official said.

The meeting between Wankhede, who is facing a slew of allegations, and Nagrale lasted for around 25 minutes, he said. However, what transpired between the two officers was not disclosed. "It was a routine meeting. Such meetings with senior officers are held regularly," the official said. A special investigation team of the Mumbai police is probing allegations of extortion bid by some NCB officials in the drugs-on-cruise case in which Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan's son Aryan is one of the accused. The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) is separately conducting a vigilance inquiry into the alleged extortion bid by agency officials, including Wankhede, for letting off Aryan Khan in the case. Wankhede was supervising the drugs-on-cruise case before it was handed over to the NCB's Delhi unit along with some other matters earlier this month. Another Mumbai police team is conducting a probe to ascertain genuineness of Wankhede's caste cirtificate. The IRS officer's statement in the matter was recorded last week. Maharashtra minister Nawab Malik has alleged that Wankhede's father had converted to Islam, but the NCB officer got his government job under the Scheduled Caste quota which a Muslim person can not get as per rules. Wankhede and his father have refuted Malik's claims. Malik has dubbed the cruise drugs case as "fake" and accused the NCB and Wankhede of framing people, a charge denied by the agency's zonal director.