NCB officer involved in Mumbai drugs case alleges he's being spied on: Report

Mumbai: Narcotics Control Bureau Zonal Director Sameer Wankhede, who is supervising probe into the recent cruise drugs bust case, has filed a police complaint in Mumbai alleging two cops were monitoring his movements, an NCB official said on Monday.

Agency sources said they found out that two persons, claiming to be police officers, accessed CCTV footage from a cemetery Mr Wangkhede visits regularly as his mother is buried there.

The senior IRS officer took note of the alleged surveillance and approached senior Maharashtra Police officials over the matter. Mr Wankhede has refused to comment on the issue, saying the matter is "very serious".

The top officer of the drug law enforcement agency has been part of multiple high-profile raids carried out by the NCB in the recent past.

Aryan Khan was denied bail for the third time during a hearing on 11 October since the court found that the bail applications were non-maintainable in court. His bail hearing is scheduled for Wednesday in a Special NDPS court.

Aryan Khan, his friend Arbaaz Merchant, and six others were arrested last week. The agency did not find any drugs on Aryan Khan, but said his WhatsApp chats were incriminating.

The arrest of Aryan Khan is now snowballing into a political issue, with leaders of Maharashtra's ruling alliance questioning the agency's handling of the case.

Last week, Nawab Malik, a senior leader of the Nationalist Congress Party, said the man who took a viral selfie with Aryan Khan after his detention is a private investigator, KP Gosavi, and questioned how outsiders were allowed in an operation conducted by a central agency.

Mr Malik also said Manish Bhanushali, a senior leader of the BJP, was also seen in visuals of the raids. This, he said, proved a BJP hand in "maligning Maharashtra with a fake drug bust".

Both Manish Bhanushali and the agency have denied the allegations. "The BJP has nothing to do with it (the arrests). I received information on October 1 that a drugs party was to be held. I was with the NCB officers (at the ship) for more information," Mr Bhanushali was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.

The anti-drugs agency has named both the men as "independent witnesses" to the raids.