Lawyers for a key independent witness in the drugs-on-cruise case have informed the Narcotics Control Bureau that their client will cooperate in the investigation into NCB zonal director Sameer Wankhede, which was initiated in response to his complaint.
Prabhakar Sail, a witness in the case, claimed to have overheard a conversation about a supposed payoff of Rs 25 crore involving Sameer Wankhede. Sail claimed that 8 crore of the total compensation amount was to be delivered to Wankhede based on the alleged conversation.
Sail’s lawyers told the NCB that he is willing to participate in the investigation, but that he has yet to be served with a summons. Sail was a bodyguard for KP Gosavi, another controversial witness in the case who was jailed after his name popped up in many cheating instances.
However, a special Narcotics Control Bureau team was dispatched to Mumbai on Friday to investigate extortion allegations leveled against NCB Mumbai zone director Sameer Wankhede, but they left Mumbai on Saturday without recording the statement of Prabhakar Sail, the ex-aide of KP Gosavi who made the allegations against Wankhede because he was not present before the NCB.
The Mumbai Police claimed it conveyed the NCB’s message to Prabhakar Sail that the Central agency wants him to appear before the investigation team, but Sail did not meet with the investigators who left for Delhi on Saturday.
According to sources, even after NCB Deputy Director General (Northern Region) Gyaneshwar Singh wrote to Mumbai Police Commissioner Hemant Nagrale to inform Sail to appear before the NCB team on Saturday, Sail remained unavailable for the central agency.
Following the allegation, a five-person team was dispatched to Mumbai, where they recorded the statements of eight people, including Sameer Wankhede. Gyaneshwar Singh stated on Friday that the inquiry team will not be able to move on till it speaks with Sail.
