Sameer
Wankhede, the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) official leading the Aryan Khan
investigation, hit back at Nawab Malik, the Maharashtra minister who has
accused Wankhede’s sister of having links with a now-jailed drug smuggler, on
Tuesday. Addressing the allegation, the NCB official said that the drug peddler
in question had approached Yasmeen Wankhede, Sameer’s sister, but was told that
she did not handle cases under the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances
Act.

Also Read | Sameer Wankhede’s wife writes to CM Uddhav Thackeray, sister files complaint

“A (drug)
peddler, Salman, approached my sister…but she doesn’t take NDPS cases, so she
sent him back. Salman tried to trap us via a middleman. He was arrested and is
in jail. False allegations being levelled by sharing his WhatsApp chat,” news
agency ANI quoted Sameer Wankhede as saying.

Wankhede’s
comments came after minister Nawab Malik, who has repeatedly criticised the NCB
cop during the Aryan Khan probe, shared a WhatsApp conversation between Sameer
Wankhede’s sister and an unidentified phone number. Opoyi did not independently
verify the authenticity of the chats. The conversation indicated that Yasmeen
Wankhede had shared her business card and office location.

Speaking
to the media on Tuesday, Malik said, “I am sharing a WhatsApp chat with you. In
these chats lady don Yasmeen Wankhede is talking to a person arrested over
drugs. She is sharing her visiting card and address. Why is the sister of the
NCB officer communicating with a drug accused?”

The
minister further said that there’s a ‘private army’ that frames people over
drugs and extorts them and alleged that the “lady don is also linked with this”.

Responding
to this charge, Sameer Wankhede said the accused in question — who he said was
a drug smuggling middleman — had earlier given a false complaint to Mumbai
Police and that the complaint has been closed.

Sameer
Wankhede catapulted into the news after a team he was leading raided a cruise
ship off the Mumbai coast in early October and arrested Bollywood superstar
Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan Khan. Aryan Khan was recently granted bail by the
Bombay High Court. Khan’s lawyers have categorically stated that the
23-year-old has nothing to do with the chatter around Sameer Wankhede or the
allegations against the cop.