NCB officials made me sign blank papers, says witness in another drugs case

Days after witness Prabhakar Sail claimed that he was made to sign blank papers by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) in the cruise drugs case, another witness in a separate drugs case on Wednesday levelled a similar allegation against the agency officials, including its Mumbai zonal director Sameer Wankhede.

Mumbai:Days after witness Prabhakar Sail claimed that he was made to sign blank papers by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) in the cruise drugs case, another witness in a separate drugs case on Wednesday levelled a similar allegation against the agency officials, including its Mumbai zonal director Sameer Wankhede.

The witness, Shekhar Kamble, a resident of Navi Mumbai, said he was made to sign on 10-12 blank papers by Wankhede and others, which were later used as panchnama in connection with a Nigerian national's arrest from Navi Mumbai's Kharghar in August this year. He also claimed that although no drugs was recovered from the Nigerian national, the NCB falsely showed that some amount of MD drug was found on him.

He said he had played the role of an informer in that case and after the raid in Kharghar, the NCB had caught two Nigerians, but let off one of them, he claimed.

“On the day of raid in August, I along with six NCB officials reached Kharghar to catch a Nigerian national, but he managed to flee from the spot. Later, we went to another location in Kharghar, where around 50 Nigerians were present. As we entered, all of them escaped, but the officials caught two Nigerians and brought them to the NCB office, where one of them was let off,” he said.

"After taking my and friend's Aadhaar cards, the NCB officials asked me just to sign 10 to 12 blank papers. When I asked them about the panchnama, Wankhede and other officials said they will write it and I don't have to worry,” Kamble added.

He said he came to know that he was a witness in the case after Maharashtra minister and NCP leader Nawab Malik made public a list of the agency's 26 different drugs cases and the witnesses in those cases. He said after he read about Malik's claims, he rang up NCB officer Anil Mane on Tuesday to express his concern over the claims in the Nigerian case.

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"The officer asked me to visit the NCB office on Wednesday, but I did not go," Kamble said. Kamble said he now fears for his life as “anything can happen” to him since he has spoken up about the NCB's "frauds".

On August 27, the NCB had issued a press release, which said that it had intercepted a Nigerian national, identified as Kingsley Ukwueza, following a raid at Kharghar. As per the NCB, it was the agency's case number 80/2021. The accused was held at a Nigerian community kitchen, who was present there along with around 50 Nigerian nationals. However, others had disappeared from the spot and two NCB officials had suffered injuries due as the Nigerians scrambled to escape, it had said.

The accused Nigerian national is a big MD trafficker or supplier in Navi Mumbai and has international linkages, the NCB had said. On Sunday, Prabhakar Sail had claimed that Rs 25 crore were demanded by an NCB official and other persons, including absconding witness K P Gosavi, to let off Aryan Khan, son of Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan, who was arrested in the cruise drugs case.

He also claimed NCB officials had asked him to sign nine to ten blank papers. Sail had told media persons that he had overheard Gosavi telling one Sam D'Souza over the phone after Aryan Khan was brought to the NCB office after the October 3 raid about a demand of Rs 25 crore and "to settle at Rs 18 crore as they have to give Rs eight crore to Sameer Wankhede".

Minister Malik has repeatedly termed the cruise drugs case as "fake" and levelled various allegations against Wankhede, including illegal phone tapping. Wankhede has refuted the allegations and denied any wrong-doing.

PTI