A DAY after two officials associated with the Mumbai Zonal Unit (MZU) of the NCB were suspended for dereliction of duty, the acting zonal director of the bureau was divested of his charge and a full-time zonal director appointed in his place. Amit Gawate, a 2008-batch IRS officer, who was formerly the Zonal director of NCB’s Bengaluru unit, has been appointed as the new MZU director.
A senior official confirmed that Gawate, who was the zonal director of the NCB’s Bengaluru unit and was holding additional charge of its Chennai unit, has been moved as the zonal director of its Mumbai unit. After controversial officer Sameer Wankhede was moved from the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), Brijendra Choudhary had been given additional charge of the unit.
Giving further details about the reason behind the transfers, an official said that Vishwa Singh and Ashish Prasad, who were responsible for the custody of Sahil Shah alias Flacko, who surrendered before the NCB in January, did not provide proper details during his court hearing. “Even though Shah was wanted in more than one case, the same was not brought to the attention of the court following which he managed to secure bail within a day,” a source said.
The source added that Shah had surrendered in a case in which a small quantity of contraband was involved but he was linked to other offences which were not brought on record in the remand copy by Singh and Prasad. The duo was also involved in the Cordelia drug bust case in which Aryan Khan, son of actor Shah Rukh Khan, was arrested by NCB.
Meanwhile, it has also come to light that another officer of NCB Mumbai was removed from service nearly two weeks back. However, an official said that the removal of Vishwanath Tiwari, an intelligence officer with Mumbai NCB, was not linked to the case in which Singh and Prasad were suspended.
“This was regarding a visit the officer took outside the country a few years back without permission from superiors when he was posted with some other NCB centre. It is not linked to the current case,” an official added.
Contraband hidden in thread wheels seized at airport
The NCB Mumbai unit on Wednesday launched an operation at the Mumbai international airport and seized 508 grams of Tramadol which was concealed within a few thread wheels meant for export. The consignment originated from Andheri and was destined for the US when the NCB officials conducted the operation based on a tip-off.
