Wankhede to remain in charge of probe: NCB

Narcotic Control Bureau zonal director Sameer Wankhede will remain the investigating officer in the drugs-on-ship case until 'substantial information' is found against him, NCB deputy director general (northern region) Gyaneshwar Singh has said.A five-member team led by Singh had earlier in the day recorded Wankhede's statement for four hours during its probe against him following allegations made by a witness in the ship case, Prabhakar Sail, that there was an 'extortion bid of ₹25 crore' for the release of actor Shah Rukh Khan's son Aryan Khan, who has been in jail for more than three weeks now."He has put forward many facts before the team. If necessary, more evidence and documents will be sought from him," Singh said. The team will also record statements of others linked to the probe.The Bombay High court, meanwhile, continued to hear arguments in the bail plea filed by Khan and the other two accused, his friend Arbaaz Merchant and a model Munmun Dhamecha. Reading from the arrest memo, senior counsel Amit Desai who appeared for Khan said that on October 3 the accused were arrested only under Sections 20(b) and 27, indicating that the allegations were only for consumption of drugs and not conspiracy. The officer who conducted the arrest treated them as 'unconnected'. The remand application also did not have any evidence of conspiracy, Desai said and contended, hence, there was no conspiracy in the instant case. It was, at best, a case of consumption with unconnected persons, and not a conspiracy. He also stressed the fact that no medical test was done on the accused.Desai said the WhatsApp chats did not support any conspiracy theory. "They are from over three months old and inadmissible as evidence for purposes of an NDPS case," he said. There was no seizure memo on the mobile phones either. A memo was required to ensure veracity of the seizure, so that there was no scope of phone tampering, he said. Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi said that there was no reason for arrest given in the arrest memo in the instant case either.NCB contended that Khan was an 'influential person' and was 'likely to tamper with evidence' or 'flee justice' if granted bail. It said evidence showed Khan was in "touch with persons abroad who were a part of an international drug network". The NCB also said Khan was not just a consumer of drugs, but also involved in 'illicit drug trafficking'. NCB alleged that Khan and Shah Rukh Khan's manager Pooja Dadlani were 'tampering with the evidence and witnesses' in the case to derail the investigation.

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