‘No such information’: Maharashtra home minister on Sameer Wankhede's claim of being spied on

A day after Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) Zonal Director Sameer Wankhede approached the Mumbai Police and the state government saying some people were monitoring his movements, home minister Dilip Walse-Patil said that no orders have been given to any agency to track Wankhede.

“We have not given any orders to the police or state intelligence to follow Sameer Wankhede. He has complained to DG Maharashtra police. We will look into this issue,”  NDTV quoted the Maharashtra home minister as saying on Tuesday.

“I have no such information,” the home minister told Hindustan Times.

The top officer of the Narcotics Control Bureau who is investigating the case in which megastar Shah Rukh Khan’s son has been arrested had filed a complaint alleging his movement was being monitored and attached CCTV footage of the Oshiwara cemetery in support of his claim on Monday.

Wankhede, who has been dealing with high-profile drug-related cases since he took over as zonal director of the Central agency, said he has never noticed anything like this before.

According to the NCB official, Wankhede had been regularly visiting the cemetery in suburban Oshiwara where his mother was buried after her death in 2015. Two officials, reportedly from the Oshiwara police station, allegedly went to the cemetery and took CCTV footage to monitor Wankhede’s movement, he said.

The senior IRS officer took note of the alleged surveillance and approached senior Maharashtra Police officials over the matter.

Wankhede has filed a complaint alleging his movement was being monitored and attached CCTV footage of the Oshiwara cemetery in support of his claim, the official said. Wankhede has been dealing with high-profile drug-related cases since he took over as zonal director of the Central agency, but has never noticed anything like this, he said.

The top officer of the drug law enforcement agency has been part of multiple high-profile raids carried out by the NCB in the recent past.

Apart from the recent drugs bust onboard a cruise liner off the Mumbai coast, that led to the arrest of Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan Khan , Wankhede investigated the 2020 drug case linked to the death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput and several other matters related to narcotics involving high-profile people.

With inputs from PTI