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Sameer Wankhede: NCB scarecrow cooks up Bollywood’s “shraadh”

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4 years ago

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 “Lights, Cameras… Raid…!” When the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) Zonal Director Sameer Wankhede planned a rave party raid aboard the Cordelia Cruise luxury ship, one thing was guaranteed — tonnes of publicity, even if the actual drug recovery maybe a few tolas.

For, among those present on the ship on October 2 was Aryan Khan, the son of Bollywood megastar Shah Rukh Khan and producer Gauri, besides a few others from the glam-entertainment world.

Truly, a ‘heady’ ambience for the NCB’s high-profile operation, a first-ever on a luxury cruiser in India, and he effected a big haul of big names, but barely any worthwhile quantity of drugs.

Amid a national furore and international attention, Wankhede zoomed around to catch a total of 20 alleged junkies by their collars and dumping them in the lockup, all the while basking in the reflected glory.

In the past over a year since Wankhede, 42, (IRS 2008), was deputed to the IPS-dominated NCB for the late Sushant Singh Rajput death probe — he jumped head-first with surgical strikes to “uproot the drug citadel in Bollywood and Mumbai”.

Many well-known names like Arjun Rampal, Rhea Chakravorty, Deepika Padukone, Shraddha Kapoor, Rakul Preet Singh, Sara Ali Khan, comedy couple Bharti Singh and Harsh Limbachiya, Armaan Kohli and the latest, Aryan Khan, were trapped in his net, and at one point he even went tantalisingly close to the Karan Johar’s ‘girebaan’ (collar).

Earlier, during his stint at the Mumbai Airport Customs, Wankhede dabbled in his favourite glamour game — cornering/detaining people like Shah Rukh Khan, Anushka Sharma, Katrina Kaif, Ranbir Kapoor, Bipasha Basu, Mika Singh, Minisha Lamba, Vivek Oberoi, Ram Gopal Verma, etc., and once even the 2011 World Cup Cricket Trophy made of gold-silver, which was ‘released’ after the BCCI coughed out the customs duty!

A far cry from the days when the NCB was a ghost, its name rarely heard in public — like the 2001 arrest of actor Fardeen Khan — compared with the daily parade of a charade now, akin to a ‘saas-bahu serial’.

If Wankhede was hoping for a pat or promotion, there was some disappointment — this time suddenly chinks were exposed both in the anti-drug actions and intentions, the NCB’s reputation in tatters — and the hunter became the hunted.

The name dreaded by Bollywood suddenly came under intense scrutiny as the Nationalist Congress Party Minister Nawab Malik single-handedly snooped on the super-sleuth — to hammer hollow the NCB’s credibility.

Like a thirsty bloodhound, the bearded, bespectacled Malik coolly launched a serial expose to prove Wankhede’s actions as ‘farjical’ (fraudulent) strikes — unearthing Bharatiya Janata Party-linked ‘independent witnesses’, his unsavoury friends, a wanted-nabbed criminal, alleged fake caste certificate, religious credentials, etc., that rattled the officer.

As Aryan Khan remained in a vice-like grip for 29 nights, Wankhede spent sleepless nights, ran from one NCB probe to another, knocked the doors of Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, the DGP Sanjay Pandey, Mumbai CoP Hemant Nagrale, the NCSC, the Special NDPS Court and the Bombay High Court.

The Maha Vikas Aghadi government has cried foul at Wankhede’s unceremonial attempts to perform Bollywood’s last rites and exorcise it’s spirit to other glamour-parched locales like Gujarat or Uttar Pradesh.

Some politicians like Shiv Sena’s Kishore Tiwari have accused him of a ‘danga’ targeting film personalities to help perch his wife Kranti Redkar-Wankhede — a Marathi actress — as Bollywood barely beckons.

There are other dubious firsts — how crucial ‘witnesses’ are bared in public glare which can seriously hamper the NCB’s usually covert and sensitive operations with global ramifications henceforth, the unprecedented witness allegations of extortion bids with Wankhede’s name tossed, or the accusations and probes he faces now from various quarters.

As is common knowledge, the real ‘drug bunkers’ are not in Bollywood, but on the outskirts of Mumbai and the NCB’s overzealous James Bonds could take up the tough challenge instead of ‘boo-ing’ soft targets in the glamour-industry.

A grim Malik has warned of more aces up his ‘kurta’ sleeve, vowing that “picture abhi baaki hai”, will end only after Wankhede’s sack and jail.

With many BJP leaders openly supporting him, only time will tell if Wankhede is a political puppet or a pure patriot.

(Quaid Najmi can be contacted at: q.najmi@ians.in)

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Maharashtra

Maharashtra Board Exam 2026 Dates Announced For Class 10th 12th: SSC From February 20, HSC From February 10; Check Full Schedule

Published

29 mins ago

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November 1, 2025

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Maharashtra Board Exam 2026: The Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education has issued the Maharashtra Board Exam 2026 schedule for Class 10th and Class 12th students. The detailed schedule is available on the board’s official website at mahahsscboard.in.

According to the schedule released, HSC or Class 12 examinations will begin on February 10, 2026, and end on March 11, 2026. The examination will be conducted in two shifts: the morning shift will be from 11 am to 2 pm, and the afternoon shift from 3 pm to 6 pm.

For SSC (Class 10) students, the exams are scheduled to start on February 20, 2026, and conclude on March 18, 2026. These papers will be conducted in two shifts, including 11 AM to 2 PM and 3 PM to 6 PM, depending on the subject.

Like previous years, the Maharashtra Board Exam 2026 will be conducted in offline (pen-and-paper) mode across the designated exam centres in the state.

Students appearing for the board exams next year can check out the full subject-wise timetable for SSC and HSC exams and start preparing accordingly by visiting mahahsscboard.in.

Exam Timings:

Morning Shift: 11:00 AM to 2:00 PM

Afternoon Shift: 3:00 PM to 6:00 PM

-February 10, 2026

Morning: English

-February 11, 2026

Morning: Hindi

Afternoon: German, Japanese, Chinese, Persian

-February 12, 2026

Morning: Marathi, Gujarati, Kannada, Sindhi (Arabic/Devanagari), Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu, Punjabi, Bengali

Afternoon: Urdu, French, Spanish, Pali

-February 13, 2026

Morning: Maharashtra Prakrut, Sanskrit

Afternoon: Ardhamagadhi, Russian, Arabic

-February 14, 2026

Morning: Organisation of Commerce and Management

-February 16, 2026

Morning: Logic, Physics

-February 17, 2026

Morning: Secretarial Practice, Home Management

-February 18, 2026

Morning: Chemistry

Afternoon: Political Science

-February 21, 2026

Morning: Mathematics and Statistics

Afternoon: Percussion Instruments

-February 23, 2026

Morning: Child Development, Agricultural Science and Technology, Animal Science and Technology

-February 24, 2026

Morning: Economics

-February 25, 2026

Morning: Biology, History and Development of Indian Music

-February 26, 2026

Morning: Book Keeping and Accountancy, Geology

Afternoon: Textiles

-February 27, 2026

Morning: Geology

Afternoon: Co-operation

-February 28, 2026

Morning: Food Science and Technology

Afternoon: Philosophy, History of Art and Appreciation

-March 2, 2026

Morning: Defence Studies

-March 4, 2026

Afternoon: Psychology

-March 6, 2026

Morning: Commerce Group Paper 1 (Banking, Office Management, Marketing & Salesmanship, Small Industries & Self Employment, Agriculture, Fishery)

Afternoon: Library and Information Science

-March 7, 2026

Afternoon: Geography

-March 9, 2026

Afternoon: History

-March 10, 2026

Morning: Commerce Group Paper 2 (Banking, Office Management, Marketing & Salesmanship, Small Industries & Self Employment, Agriculture, Fishery)

-March 11, 2026

Afternoon: Sociology

Exam Timings:

Morning Shift: 11:00 AM to 2:00 PM

Afternoon Shift: 3:00 PM to 6:00 PM (for select papers)

-February 20, 2026

11 AM to 2 PM: First Language (Marathi, Hindi, Urdu, Gujarati, Kannada, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Sindhi, Bengali, Punjabi)

3 PM to 6 PM: Second or Third Language (German, French)

-February 21, 2026

11 AM to 2 PM: Vocational/Technical Subjects (e.g., Multi Skill Assistant Technician, Agriculture, Mechanical Technology, etc.)

-February 23, 2026

11 AM to 2 PM: Second or Third Language (Marathi, Kannada, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Sindhi, Bengali, Punjabi)

11 AM to 1 PM: Second or Third Language Composite Course

-February 25, 2026

11 AM to 2 PM: Second or Third Language

3 PM to 5 PM: Second or Third Language Composite Course

-February 27, 2026

11 AM to 2 PM: First Language English and Third Language English

-March 4, 2026

11 AM to 2 PM: Second or Third Language Hindi

11 AM to 1 PM: Second or Third Language Composite Course

-March 6, 2026

11 AM to 1 PM: Mathematics Part I – Algebra

Arithmetic (for eligible Divyang Candidates)

-March 9, 2026

11 AM to 1 PM: Mathematics Part II – Geometry

-March 11, 2026

11 AM to 1 PM: Science and Technology Part I

11 AM to 1:30 PM: Physiology & Hygiene (for eligible Divyang Candidates)

-March 13, 2026

11 AM to 1 PM: Science and Technology Part II

-March 16, 2026

11 AM to 1 PM: Social Sciences Paper I (History and Political Science)

-March 18, 2026

11 AM to 1 PM: Social Sciences Paper II (Geography)

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Maharashtra

Mumbai Local Trains On Central Line Hit As Freight Engine Fails Between Neral & Vangani

Published

18 hours ago

on

October 31, 2025

By

Mumbai: A diesel freight locomotive failure between Neral and Vangani early Friday morning caused significant disruption to Mumbai’s Central Railway (CR) services, delaying local and express trains during the peak rush hour.

At 8.13 am, a Sanath Nagar (Secunderabad)–JNPT freight train suffered a diesel locomotive failure and came to a halt at the Vangani Home signal on the Up line. The train blocked the main track, paralysing suburban and long-distance operations on the busy Neral–Vangani section.

Railway officials confirmed that the section was occupied and no train could move until the stranded freight rake was cleared.

The control office was alerted immediately, and on-site efforts to restart the diesel engine were made but proved unsuccessful. A decision was then taken to dispatch an assisting locomotive from the rear to move the failed train.

The relief loco arrived promptly, coupled to the stranded rake, and successfully cleared the section by 9.15 am — restoring normal train movement after one hour and two minutes of disruption.

The incident led to cascading delays across CR’s suburban network. The S-18 local service was among the first to be detained due to the blockage.

Two major long-distance trains — Train No. 11010 (Pune–CSMT) and Train No. 12124 (Pune–CSMT) — were diverted via Panvel to avoid further congestion and ensure minimal inconvenience to long-distance passengers.

Several subsequent suburban trains also faced delays as services were gradually normalised after clearance.

Freight movement in adjoining sections was briefly regulated until the failed locomotive was moved to the nearest station for inspection and repairs. Railway officials have initiated a technical assessment to determine the exact cause of the failure and prevent similar incidents.

Normalcy Restored After One Hour

By 9.15 am, train operations were fully restored on the Neral–Vangani stretch. Officials lauded the prompt coordination between the control room and the field team, which helped contain the disruption within a short span.

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Maharashtra

Rohit Arya, who held 20 children hostage, died during treatment after being shot.

Published

2 days ago

on

October 30, 2025

By

Rohit Arya, the accused who held 20 children hostage inside a studio in Mumbai’s Powai area, has died. The accused, Rohit Arya, had taken the children hostage and also fired at the police. Police retaliated, injuring him, and he died during treatment.

Rohit Arya was mentally ill. He had taken 20 children hostage at RA Studios in Powai. Upon receiving information, police immediately arrived at the scene and attempted to apprehend him. During this, Rohit Arya opened fire on the police, who retaliated, injuring him. He was immediately taken for treatment, but died during treatment.

Earlier, the accused, Rohit Arya, had released a video admitting to holding the children hostage. Police had stated that Rohit Arya was mentally ill. Police had safely rescued all the children from his custody.

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