Destroying CCTV footage, illegal seizures of phones: Sameer Wankhede and team’s wrongdoings according to NCB Special Enquiry Team’s report

This is the second story of the Wankhede series.

The Special Enquiry Team of NCB, which probed the wrong-doings of Sameer Wankhede, then Zonal Director of NCB Mumbai. The SET report has more to reveal. In the previous story of this series, we put out details of the SET report mentioned in the First Information Report filed by the CBI.

NewsTapOne.com has accessed the SET report.

Sameer Wankhede’s luxurious world tour

Sameer Wankhede along with his family travelled 6 times abroad in the time spam of almost 5 years [2017 – 2021]. The Wankhede family travelled to countries like United Kingdom, Portugal, Ireland, South Africa, Maldives and others. Wankhede and family stayed for about 55 days in hotels abroad. Wankhede has only declared about Rs 8.5 Lakh, which would not be sufficient for travel alone. More specifically, the report stated that in July 2021, Wankhede and his buddy Viral Jamaluddin stayed at Taj Exotica Maldives Beach suites with their families and maids on a credit basis/cash payment (about Rs 7.5 lakh for Wankhede’s family). When the SET began the investigation, they only paid the sum to the hotel on December 18, 2021, using Jamaluddin’s credit card.

Wankhede’s luxurious watches and properties

The SET also questioned Wankhede’s purchase of a beautiful Rolex Gold watch for Rs 22,05,000 on credit from Jamaluddin for just Rs 17,40,000. According to the investigation, Wankhede was unable to justify the costs of his international trips and pricey watches. The investigative team has also raised various doubts about Wankhede’s Mumbai and Washim residences, as well as examined the ex-NCB zonal director’s and his wife’s income tax return paperwork, stressing that additional extensive inquiry is required.

NCB office’s CCTV footage destroyed?

The SET also discovered severe flaws in its Mumbai office when, during the investigation, the team retrieved the NCB office’s CCTV equipment to check the facts, but the footage was determined to be fraudulent. The DVR and hard disc given by the NCB Mumbai office were also different, implying that critical video was withheld from the SET on purpose.

Illegal seizure of phones?

The SET also discovered, via an examination of the ‘panchnama’ and other papers, that neither the suspects’ phones nor a separate seizure memo were confiscated. As a result, no legal records were created for the phone confiscation. The absence of a seizure note hampered the chain of custody of the confiscated phone, which was crucial evidence.