Sameer Wankhede, Kiran Gosavi and 2 others named in CBI’s FIR, accused of ‘taking favours from people they probed’

According to the Central Bureau of inquiry’s (CBI) preliminary inquiry, Sameer Wankhede, the former director of the Mumbai zonal office of the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), reportedly owns five properties, including a home unit in affluent Bandra and two commercial properties totalling crores that include a pub.

Every month, Sameer Wankhede received a salary of over Rs 1 lakh. He has five properties in Mumbai that are both in his name and that of his family. These include both residential and commercial properties, as well as a pub that is registered in his name. “No officer with that salary can own such expensive real estate,”  a source said.

Sources within the CBI claim that Wankhede “owns assets beyond his source of income” as a result. which spurred the CBI to launch a case of corruption and criminal conspiracy on Wankhede on Thursday.

The insider claims that Wankhede also “sought favours from private parties,” some of whom he had been investigating.

Additionally, it is claimed that he wanted a bribe to “settle” the Cordelia Cruise Ship investigation into Aryan through a third party. At a “rave party” aboard the cruise ship in 2021, Aryan was detained on drug possession and usage charges.

“No public servant can run a parallel business like he was doing. He had started thinking he was bigger than the law. It is during the inquiry that all these things came to fore,” a senior NCB officer told news portal The Print.

In addition to Wankhede, the FIR mentioned two additional NCB officials, S.P. Vishwa Vijay Singh and Ashish Ranjan, as well as independent witness Kiran Gosavi, who was also present at the Cordelia raid.

Following a thorough investigation into the officers by the NCB’s vigilance squad, the case was officially filed. The team delivered a report to the national government for future action.

ED likely to file a case

According to the source, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) is also expected to file a case to investigate the money laundering part of the case.