A four-member Mumbai Police team, headed by an officer of rank of assistant commissioner of police (ACP), has begun its probe into allegations of corruption against officers of Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), including Mumbai zonal director Sameer Wankhede, the lead investigator in the cruise drugs raid case in which actor Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan was arrested earlier this month.

“If the enquiry reveals commission of any cognisable offence, a First Information Report (FIR) would be registered against the concerned person/s and further investigation would be commenced as per due procedure,” an officer familiar with the developments said on condition of anonymity.

At least four police stations have received complaints against NCB officials and Wankhede after Prabhakar Sail, an independent witness in the drugs case, in an affidavit on October 23 claimed that investigators made him sign on 10 sheets of blank paper at their office on the day of the raid.

Sail also alleged that he overheard his employer, Kiran Gosavi (another witness in the case) speaking on the phone about extorting ₹25 crore to settle the case and release Aryan Khan, which could be negotiated to ₹ 18 crore, with ₹8 crore purportedly for Wankhede.

The affidavit further stated that Gosavi met Shah Rukh Khan’s manager, Pooja Dadlani, and a purported exchange of money took place between them on October 3. Aryan was arrested later that afternoon and released on Friday.

Wankhede has denied all allegations made in the affidavit. “This is a malicious allegation to target my reputation. I condemn it,” he said.

The Mumbai Police team, led by ACP Milind Khetle of Azad Maidan division, and comprising inspector Ajay Sawant (Colaba police station), sub-inspector Prakash Gawli (cyber police) and assistant inspector Shrikant Karkar (anti-narcotics cell), began examining call detail records (CDR), close circuit television (CCTV) footage at the locations where the alleged meetings took place and where a bag of cash was purportedly exchanged. It also began examining the phone call locations of NCB officials and other individuals who were part of the alleged extortion plan.

“The focus of our inquiry is to ascertain how the money transactions, if any, took place. Sail said that there were cash transactions and proving that will be very challenging. We are in the process of identifying witnesses who were part of the alleged transaction or witnessed it. Only after finding strong evidence will we register an FIR,” another officer said on condition of anonymity. “Once we establish that money transactions were made for the purposes of bribery or extortion, we will try to ascertain whether Gosavi was acting on his own or whether he was following any NCB officer’s orders,” the officer added.

The police team is being supervised by ACP Dilip Sawant and DCP Hemrajsingh Rajput.

Sail, who was interrogated by Mumbai Police for several hours on October 27 and 28, filed an application seeking protection at Sahar police station on October 25. “He has shared all details to substantiate his claims,” Sail’s lawyer Tushar Khandare said.

A separate enquiry is being conducted by a vigilance team, led by NCB deputy director general Gyaneshwar Singh, based on Sail’s allegations. The team, which is currently in Mumbai, has recorded the statements of eight people, including Wankhede and four other NCB officers, so far. It has also sought Sail’s participation in the enquiry. “[On Thursday] We requested the Mumbai Police commissioner also to convey our message to Sail, as we learnt through various media reports that he was being investigated by them, to join our inquiry. Surprisingly, Sail has not come forward. In the last three days, we have used all our sources to serve him a notice directly and also through his relatives and also contacted his advocate,” Singh told reporters on Friday.