Editorial: Punish the tormentors

A deeper probe into the Wankhede case is a must so that course correction can be done

Hyderabad: The shocking twist in the Cordelia cruise drug bust case, with the CBI accusing the former Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) officer Sameer Wankhede of demanding a bribe of Rs 25 crore from Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan’s family, exposes a deeper malaise afflicting organisations that are supposed to carry out probes with integrity and fairness. Wankhede, a 2008 batch IRS officer who headed the NCB’s Mumbai zone when the incident happened in October 2021, has now been summoned by the CBI in connection with the charge that he, along with three others, was involved in the extortion attempt and had threatened to implicate Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan Khan. Framing celebrities in controversial cases to earn the media spotlight has been a dangerous tendency among a section of the officers of the central investigating agencies. In the process, enormous damage is caused to the reputation of the accused persons and their families. The high-profile drugs case involving the Bollywood superstar’s son is yet another example of how some overzealous officers go berserk in targeting celebrities on flimsy grounds. Ultimately, such cases don’t stand the scrutiny of law. The tainted officer is now on the probe agency’s radar for possessing assets disproportionate to his known sources of income, besides making a misleading declaration of expenditure incurred on his foreign visits. After the raid, the NCB then claimed to have seized cocaine, mephedrone and marijuana and arrested 17 people, including Aryan. However, after a month of harassment and relentless hounding, Aryan Khan and others were given a clean chit, thereby exposing the loopholes in the NCB’s functioning.

The case, which hogged the limelight, came as an inflection point for the agency as it took a terrible blow to its credibility and professionalism. The sordid saga dented the image of the NCB, the nodal agency that enforces drug laws in the country and works in coordination with international bodies such as the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. In this case, the key question is whether Wankhede’s superiors turned a blind eye to his excesses or were some of them in league with him. The NCB, tasked with the detection and disruption of organised drug trafficking groups, cannot do its job effectively if it shows laxity in weeding out errant officers. A deeper probe into the Wankhede case is a must so that course correction can be done. Sending a strong message of zero tolerance for corruption can deter domestic and international drug cartels. Also, the focus should be on catching the big fish involved in supplying and peddling drugs. NCB officers should not be wasting their resources and time on cases involving possession of small quantities of drugs. Instead, the focus should be on organised narco-terror and the international mafia. It is equally vital to hold accountable the overzealous officials misusing their power.

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