BENGALURU: Director, Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), Bengaluru zonal unit Amit Ghawate has replaced NCB, Mumbai chief Sameer Wankhede, who was recently pulled up for shoddy investigation in Bollywood superstar Shahrukh Khan’s son Aryan’s drugs-on-cruise case. Wankhede has been transferred to the Directorate General of Taxpayers Services in Chennai. Ghawate, an Indian Revenue Service officer of 2008 batch, had joined as zonal director, Bengaluru, NCB in June 2020.
The Bengaluru zonal unit covers three other states - Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Kerala. Zonal Director, NCB, Chennai, P Aravindan – an Indian Police Service (IPS) officer of 2010 batch will now head Bengaluru, NCB besides having jurisdiction over Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Pondicherry and Lakshadweep. Under Ghawate’s supervision, NCB, BZU had busted several drug syndicates.
One such drug bust in August 2020 had resulted in thearrest of Bineesh Kodiyeri, the son of CPI(M)’s Kerala secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan by the Directorate of Enforcement (ED), Bengaluru for his alleged financial dealings with Mohammed Anoop, who was arrested in August by the NCB, Bengaluru under the Narcotic Drugs & Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act.
The NCB, BZU probe had also led the Bengaluru city police to crack down on alleged Sandalwood drug links in September 2020 and the arrest of some prominent Sandalwood actors, event managers and Aditya Alva – brother-in-law of Vivek Oberoi in the case. Ghawate was part of the team, which had initially probed Rhea Chakraborty’s role in actor Sushant Singh Rajput’s death by suicide in June 2020.