Senior NCB law officer files defamation case against Wankhede

Japan Babu, an additional legal advisor in the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), has filed a criminal complaint alleging that former Mumbai zonal director of the agency, Sameer Wankhede, has falsely claimed before Bombay High Court that he had a conversation with Babu regarding inclusion of Aryan Khan’s name in the draft charge-sheet in the Cordelia drugs bust case, which ultimately never saw the light of day.

Previously, Wankhede claimed that Babu, in a telephonic conversation, confirmed the proposed charges against Aryan Khan, but the draft complaint was replaced with a separate one prepared from outside.In Wankhede's writ petition filed before the Bombay High Court, regarding a corruption and extortion case registered by the CBI in May, he sought the quashing of an FIR and interim protection from coercive action by the probe agency. His action followed the CBI case, which was registered against Sameer Wankhede, NCB Superintendent Vishwa Vijay Singh, Intelligence Officer Ashish Ranjan of NCB’s Mumbai zonal unit, private individuals KP Gosavi and Sanville D'Souza, and others.The agency's FIR accused these individuals of conspiring to extort Rs 25 crore from actor Shah Rukh Khan for not implicating his son Aryan Khan in the drug case, and subsequently, obtaining a bribe of Rs 50 lakh from the actor.

Indian Legal Service (ILS) officer Japan Babu working as Additional Legal Advisor with NCB filed the case against Wankhede in Delhi court on October 6 and stated that the claims made by Wankhede regarding him were completely false and imaginary and he had never had any such conversation with him.Babu's petition said, "That, there is no truth or reason or proof in support of the statements made by the accused (Wankhede)."

Japan Babu, in his complaint, asserted that Wankhede's allegations were baseless and aimed at tarnishing his reputation as an honest government officer. He maintained that the chargesheet was not prepared by the Deputy Legal Advisor, and no such conversation as claimed by Wankhede ever took place. Babu prayed for Wankhede to be summoned in view of his complaint and requested appropriate compensation for the alleged damage caused to his reputation. Wankhede, meanwhile, remains under interim protection from the Bombay High Court as the investigation unfolds.