New Delhi (TIP): Six cases being investigated by NCB officer Sameer Wankhede – including the Aryan Khan drugs case – have been transferred out of the agency’s Mumbai unit amid allegations of extortion and a Rs 8 crore payoff linked to the case involving Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan’s son.

A SIT led by senior police officer Sanjay Singh, a 1996 batch officer from the Odisha cadre, will take over the Aryan Khan case, as well another involving Maharashtra minister Nawab Malik’s son-in-law.

Malik, who has been relentless in his attacks on the anti-drugs agency and Wankhede, said he had demanded a SIT probe to investigate charges against the senior officer.

I had demanded an S.I.T probe to investigate Sameer Dawood Wankhede for kidnapping of & ransom demand from Aryan Khan.

Now 2 S.I.Ts are constituted (state & centre), let us see who brings out the skeletons from the closet of Wankhede and exposes him and his nefarious private army

The Narcotics Control Bureau, in a statement released yesterday evening, and signed by Sanjay Singh, has stressed: “No officer or officers have been REMOVED from their present roles”.

Shortly after news broke that the cases were being shifted, Mr Wankhede told NDTV “I have not been removed from anywhere” and that he had asked for the cases to be transferred out.

“I’ve not been removed from investigation. It was my writ petition in the Bombay High Court that the matter be probed by a central agency like the CBI or NIA. Based on that, a SIT has now been formed under the leadership of a senior officer…” he told NDTV over the phone.

Sameer Wankhede is at the centre of a storm after accusations from Nawab Malik and Prabhakar Sail, a NCB witness in the Aryan Khan case, brought his record and handling of cases into question.

Last week, amid a flurry of criticism and scrutiny, the anti-drugs agency publicly backed the senior officer, citing an “impeccable service record… replete with honesty and integrity”.

Simultaneously, however, the agency also initiated an internal probe; a five-member team headed by Deputy Director-General Gyaneshwar Singh did visit Mumbai last week, and took down Mr Wankhede’s statement, but left without speaking to Prabhakar Sail.

The agency’s backing came after Mr Sail filed an affidavit saying he overheard a conversation between his employer KP Gosavi (another agency witness, whose selfie with Aryan after his arrest raised more questions about the NCB’s case), SRK’s manager Pooja Dadlani, and a Sam D’Souza this month.     Source: NDTV