Former CBI officer Sanjay Singh, who had earlier investigated the Commonwealth Scam and the CRPF recruitment scam, will take charge of the investigation in the Mumbai cruise ship drug case involving Aryan Khan and others. IPS officer Sanjay Singh, who is the Deputy Director-General of NCB, will lead the Special Investigation Team that would probe into the Aryan Khan case after the NCB had transferred six cases from Mumbai Zone to the SIT formed by the NCB. The case was handed over to the SIT after NCB Mumbai zonal director Sameer Wankhede, who was heading the case, had requested to transfer the case to NCB central office.
“We’ve taken over a group of 6 cases. He (Sameer Wankhede) is the zonal director of Mumbai, we’ll definitely take his assistance in the investigation,” said Narcotics Control Bureau’s DDG Sanjay Kumar Singh in Mumbai pic.twitter.com/egkhfHQFhf
— ANI (@ANI) November 6, 2021
While media was reporting yesterday that Sameer Wankhede has been dropped from the case because of allegations against him, NCB has denied it. The central probe body had informed earlier that the SIT has been formed to take over 6 cases with national and international ramifications, and no officer has been removed from their present roles. The NCB in a press release had said that the existing officials working in the six cases will continue to assist in the investigations.
This was reiterated by Sanjay Singh today, who said that his team will ‘definitely take the assistance of Sameer Wankhade. “We’ve taken over a group of 6 cases. He (Sameer Wankhede) is the zonal director of Mumbai, we’ll definitely take his assistance in the investigation,” Sanjay Kumar Singh told media today.
Talking about the latest development in the Aryan Khan investigation, Sameer Wankhede had also said, “I have not been removed from investigation. It was my writ petition in court that the matter be probed by a central agency. So the Aryan (Khan) case and Sameer Khan case are being probed by the Delhi NCB’s special investigation team. It’s a coordination between NCB teams of Delhi and Mumbai”.
Sanjay Singh was a 1996 batch IPS officer who had handled several sensitive cases in his career including the Commonwealth Games scam, one of India’s biggest scams and CRPF recruitment scam. Singh is also the current Deputy Director General (Operations) of the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) and to serve at the post till January 31, 2025. According to a batchmate of the former CBI officer, Sanjay Singh had once refused security cover and did not put three stars on the number plate of his car.
The Odisha cadre officer Sanjay Singh had served at different positions with the Odisha police and the CBI in the past. Singh led the drug task force (DTF) with the Odisha Police as ADG (additional director general) and launched several anti-drug drives in the state. Singh had also busted several drug trafficking rackets in Bhubaneswar.
Sanjay Singh handled several high-profile cases during his period with the CBI including the 2010 Commonwealth Games scam, CRPF Scam and Medical Council of India scam among others.
