Mumbai, Oct 14 (IANS): A day after a Mumbai special court said that no case of illicit drug trafficking or conspiracy was made out against Sameer Khan, his father-in-law and senior Maharashtra Minister Nawab Malik on Thursday slammed the NCB for falsely implicating him in the alleged narcotics seizure case in January.
Special Judge A. A. Joglekar, while granting bail to Khan after nearly nine months in custody, had observed that no commercial quantity of drugs were found from the accused, he had no criminal records, or had connived with the other co-accused.
Addressing the media Thursday, Malik charged the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) of framing his son-in-law, filing fake cases, spreading falsehoods through selective media leaks, etc.
While Malik said his family would move the Bombay High Court to quash the agency's case against Khan, NCB Zonal Director Sameer Wankhede declined to comment on the minister's accusations saying the matter is "sub judice".
Malik made a presentation showing pictures of seizures the NCB alleged to have made at Khan's home were actually of the agency's office to entrap his son-in-law, though the NCB had denied the charges.
The NCP national spokesperson further said that what the NCB claimed as 200 kg of Ganja, the chemical analysis report proved it was only 'herbal tobacco'. "It is shocking... the NCB doesn't know the difference between ganja and tobacco?"
He pointed out that anti-drug agencies have kits that can instantly detect whether any substance is a narcotic or not and questioned how the NCB failed to distinguish between ganja and tobacco.
"I have been saying right from the beginning the NCB is framing prominent people through such 'farziwara' (fraudulent cases)... We shall approach the Bombay High Court," Malik said.
He said that after he exposed the NCB's raids on a cruise ship on October 2, he has been getting threat calls and support calls from all over India.
Now, the Maharashtra Police has upgraded Malik's security to Y-Plus in view of the threats he is facing.
He also publicly expressed gratitude to NCP President Sharad Pawar for solidly supporting him and his family during the trauma they underwent past nine months.
This is the third attack Malik launched on the NCB in the past two weeks raising various questions but the agency has claimed no wrongdoings.