A team of Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) officials was attacked by a mob of 50-60 people on Sunday, 22 November, while a search operation was underway in the Goregaon area of Mumbai, NDTV reported.
The team consisted of zonal director Sameer Wankhede, who was heading the operation, NCB superintendent VV Singh, investigating officer Vishwanath Tiwari and three NCB sepoys.
As the team tried to arrest Kerry Kelvin Mendes, a 20-year old peddler who was found in possession of 20 blots of LSD, several of his accomplices heckled, attacked and assaulted the NCB officials. Two of them were seriously injured and Wankhede sustained minor injuries.
IANS reported that the NCB believes “their efforts were directed towards freeing the accused”, but the anti-drug agency successfully foiled the attack, and arrested Mendes with the help of Goregaon police.
The Police went on to arrest three people that were a part of the mob and identified them as Vipul Krishna Agre, 25, Yusuf Amin Shaikh, 24, and Amin Abdul Latif Shaikh, 55.
The deputy commissioner of police zone-11, Vishal Thakur informed, “Following a complaint from NCB officials, we registered a case and arrested all of them. We have asked the investigating officers to check their criminal background and investigate the case thoroughly.” Wankhede also spoke on the matter, claiming that the “Mumbai police helped them.”
An FIR has been registered against the suspects for assaulting government servants and deterring them to discharge of his duty (Section 353), voluntarily causing harm (Section 323) and insulting officials with an intention to breach peace (Section 504 and 34).
The NCB has been investigating several high-profile cases as part of an ongoing probe into drug-related offences in the Maharashtrian’s capital, and this shocking development comes after famous comedian Bharti Singh and her husband, Harsh Limbachiya were arrested on Saturday, 21 November.
(With inputs from IANS, NDTV and Hindustan Times)
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