Mumbai: Maharashtra minister Nawab Malik on Sunday again attacked the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) alleging that a ‘panch’ was called by an NCB official to get the Panchnama papers signed in a case dated back to the present day. Malik’s remarks came after the NCB moved the Bombay High Court seeking cancellation of bail granted to his son-in-law in a drug case. When contacted, an NCB official denied Malik’s allegations and termed them as “false and baseless”.
Malik also released two audio clips while addressing the journalists – an audio purported conversation between an NCB officer calling a panch (witness) ‘Maddy’ to sign old papers related to a case. Another audio was of an alleged phone call between Punch and NCB’s Mumbai Divisional Director Sameer Wankhede, whose tenure with the central anti-narcotics agency ended on December 31.
Malik said, “NCB’s lies are not taking its name to stop…the way the officials have created fake cases by implicating people in false cases by getting witnesses to sign on blank papers, and now, to fix the cases. , they are calling the Panchs to sign the Panchnama letters of the previous date.” Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) spokesperson said, “I am going to approach the court in this matter.”
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Malik said his son-in-law Sameer Khan – who was arrested last year in a drug case and later released on bail – was chosen to put pressure on him, but he was “lying” to the NCB officials. Will continue to expose”.
He said, “The agency has the right to appeal to the High Court if they are not satisfied with the order, but the case of (actress) Riya and Shovik Chakraborty (a drug case related to the death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput) are pending appeals. It would have been better if the papers (related to Sameer Khan’s case) had come from the court (in the public domain).”
“But the manner in which the public relations agencies circulated the unsigned papers of NCB shows the wrong intention behind it,” the minister claimed. Malik, without naming anyone, also claimed that a “very senior BJP leader” from the state is lobbying the Union Home Ministry for extension of service to Wankhede at the central agency in Mumbai. When contacted, an NCB official said that ‘Maddy’, who is speaking to an NCB officer (in the audio clip), is one of the witnesses in the case. (agency)