Sameer Wankhede, top NCB officer behind Mumbai cruise drugs bust, has Bollywood connection of his own

Almost all of Bollywood now has a new, common nightmare. No, it’s not low attendance or a bad Friday release. He’s Narcotics Control Bureau’s Sameer Wankhede.

A top Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer, Wankhede was the one who probed actress Rhea Chakraborty’s drugs conspiracy link in connection with actor Sushant Singh Rajput’s death. And now, he is in the news once again for raid on a cruise ship in Mumbai where the Bollywood nexus is once again in the dock.

Coincidentally, Wankhede also has a special Bollywood connection, beyond his call of duty. He is married to popular Marathi actress Kranti Redkar who has worked with actor Ajay Devgn in his 2003 film Gangajal. Wankhede and Kranti tied the knot in March 2017 in a private wedding ceremony.

Wankhede is a 2008-batch IRS officer. His first posting was at the Mumbai airport as the Customs Officer. In the past two years, a probe led by him and his team managed to seize drugs worth Rs 17,000 crore.

His posting and designations from 2008 to 2020 include Deputy Commissioner of Air Intelligence Unit (AIU), Additional SP of National Investigation Agency (NIA), Joint Commissioner of Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) and Zonal Director of NCB.

While serving in the Customs Department, he reportedly did not give custom clearance to many celebrities until they disclosed the goods bought in foreign currency and paid tax on it. He has booked more than 2,000 celebrities for not paying taxes.

In 2013, Wankhede caught singer Mika Singh at the Mumbai airport with foreign currency. The top cop has also raided properties owned by many Bollywood celebs, including Anurag Kashyap, Vivek Oberoi and Ram Gopal Varma.

In 2011, even the cricket World Cup trophy, which was made of gold, was released at the Mumbai airport only after paying customs duty.

NCB on Saturday evening under Wankhede’s leadershp raided a passenger cruise ship anchored in Mumbai and busted a party onboard where drugs were being used. There were hundreds of passengers on the ship which was bound for Goa.

Banned narcotic drugs were recovered from some of the passengers, including big Bollywood names.