Tough on Celebs, Married to Actor: NCB's Sameer Wankhede Has Many B-town 'Connections'

Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) Zonal Director Sameer Wankhede, who has been recently making headlines after spearheading a high-profile drug raid on a Mumbai cruise, leading to the arrest of Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan Khan, has reportedly been removed from the investigation.

Wankhede has been under the scanner after big allegations of a Rs 25 crore pay-off to let Aryan go emerged, after which a probe was initiated into the officer’s conduct. As the NCB’s ‘blue-eyed boy’ goes through the motions of the subsequent scandal, here’s a deeper look into his career:

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.

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 last 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 the 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 custom duty.

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