The charges against Indian Revenue Service officer Sameer Wankhede are piling up. According to the FIR registered by the CBI last week, Wankhede and his accomplices allegedly demanded Rs 25 crore as bribe for not framing Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan Khan in the 2021 drugs-on-cruise case. The FIR mentions that the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) team which raided the cruise ship allowed the supplier and the persons who were in possession of drugs to go scot-free. The tainted officer, who served as the NCB’s Zonal Director in Mumbai, is also on the probe agency’s radar for possessing assets disproportionate to his known sources of income, besides making a misleading declaration of expenditure incurred on his foreign visits.

The CBI booked Wankhede and the others following an investigation by a Special Enquiry Team (SET), headed by a Deputy Director General of the NCB. The SET report laid bare the officer’s brazen attempt to extort crores of rupees from Aryan’s family. The sordid saga has dented the credibility of the NCB, the nodal agency that enforces drug laws in India and works in coordination with international bodies such as the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. Several questions need to be answered: Did Wankhede’s superiors turn a blind eye to his excesses? Or were some of them in league with him? Who were the politicians whose patronage emboldened him to commit the offences?

The NCB, tasked with the ‘detection and disruption’ of organized drug trafficking groups, cannot do its job effectively if it shows laxity in weeding out erring officers. A deeper probe into the Wankhede case is a must so that course correction can be done. Sending a strong message of zero tolerance for corruption can deter domestic and international drug cartels. Also, the bureau must give precedence to catching the big fish. Getting its priorities right can help the NCB make a significant difference on the ground.
(Tribune India)