NCB seeks dismissal of Sameer Wankhede’s plea against preliminary enquiries

The first case is a drug case initiated by the central agency after the death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput in 2020 and the other is a cocaine case filed against a Nigerian citizen.

The NCB on April 5 filed an affidavit in reply to Wankhede’s plea against enquiries initiated by NCB Deputy Director-General (DDG) Sanjay Kumar Singh.

NCB lawyer on April 1 had assured a division bench of Justices Revati Mohite-Dere and Manjusha A Deshpande that no further notice will be issued to the petitioner till his plea is heard. The bench had then asked the agency to file an affidavit in reply to the plea.

The affidavit filed by Singh claimed that Wankhede was trying to “delay and prolong” the probe initiated against him by filing multiple litigations trying to evade preliminary enquiry.

The agency denied Wankhede’s claim that the probe was initiated based on an anonymous complaint.

It stated that actor Sapna Pabbi, who was issued summons by NCB in a drugs case filed after the death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput, had recently submitted a complaint to NCB claiming that Look Out Circular (LOC) issued against her was kept pending without any reason.

Pabbi had claimed that despite informing the investigating officer about her unavailability in India and request to virtually record her statement, the officers said that she was not cooperating with the probe and had issued LOC against her.

As per the agency, Pabbi had also claimed that the agency illegally carried out searches at her Mumbai residence, where the officers allegedly recovered two strips of medicine for which she had a medical prescription.

Therefore, the affidavit stated, “Considering the serious allegations made against the petitioner (Wankhede), it was felt necessary to conduct an enquiry against him and call him to ascertain the veracity of the allegations.”

The agency also said that when Wankhede was Mumbai zonal director of NCB, Singh was DDG (operations) and therefore he was not Wankhede’s reporting authority and Ashok Mutha Jain, DDG, South-West region was petitioner’s superior at the relevant time.

The NCB said the complaint copies or chargesheet of certain cases were sent by Wankhede to Singh only for “perusal and not for seeking approval” and therefore Singh is competent to conduct the preliminary probe.

Wankhede’s plea could not be heard due to paucity of time, which will be taken up in due course.