In a tell-all interview, former Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) officer Sameer Wankhede calls his defamation case against The Ba***ds Of Bollywood a fight to preserve the dignity of his family and officers of the law. He also addresses ‘misleading narratives’ circulating in the media and claims of animosity towards actor Shah Rukh Khan.

It was reported by some portals that my petition was ‘dismissed’, when I was asked just to file an amendment. We brought to the Court’s notice, too, that some PR campaign is running about my case being ‘dismissed’ or ‘rejected’. I have immense faith in our judiciary. I know that, if there is truth in whatever you are saying, the judiciary will take cognisance. I am happy that the High Court took a look at what we had to say. The hearing is scheduled for October 30.

Some meme pages related to the entertainment industry have been putting out half-baked news with flashy headlines without going into the merits of the case. My wife and sister have received humiliating messages on the lines of ‘Aapka case reject ho gaya, yahaan se laat mil gayi’, and dirty words I can’t say in the media. They humiliated the women of my house.

I don’t want to allege anything, but some fan pages and fan groups are deliberately sent to troll or send dirty messages to women so that they get offended, humiliated; it is mental torture. It doesn’t matter because we have taken all those things and presented before the court.

I am an officer of the law; whatever books and Acts are there, I act as per that. We are not living in some kind of a banana republic out here. We have a constitution, a system, a set up. There’s a chain of command. I am a very small man — just a government servant. How can anybody have such a grudge and (do) all those things? There is a system for checks and balances. These claims are just loose talks.

It’s being said that my portrayal (in the show) was some kind of ‘satire’, but I’d like to state three things. First, I am fighting for the honour of my family. Self-respect is very important for any individual. Secondly, it is for the honour of the law enforcement officers, be it NCB, Customs or any department. Anti-drug operations are a serious thing. Officers shed their blood to fight (for the country): I have seen and been on operations where my staff suffered head injuries and legs were broken. You can’t make a satire at the expense of this. Thirdly, it is a matter of the national emblem — you cannot show a middle finger and play with national honour! As a citizen, I will definitely fight for these things.

I had filed a writ petition before the Bombay High Court, wherein I had to present evidence. So, why will I ‘leak’ (the chats), what is my motive? I will bring it to court. In any case, these things will come out when arguments happen (in court). The matter is subjudice. I have also submitted the 65B certificate (A 65B certificate is a legal document required under India’s Evidence Act, 1872 to authenticate electronic records, making them admissible as evidence in court).

This is a matter handled by my legal counsel, so it will be very immature to comment on anything that I’m not aware of. I’m not that well aware of these kinds of issues. It’s the first time I’m dealing with this.

No, nothing as of now. I’m just focusing on the suit which I have filed, and I’ll be fighting for justice.

(cuts in) Not just my own, but the dignity of the department and officers also. So that next time, nobody makes a satire on cops or the law enforcement.

I am serving the government of India. So, like a loyal soldier, wherever I’m posted, I will be serving there. I will do my duty, that’s it.

He’s an elusive man. And it comes with the territory. Sameer Wankhede is the Zonal Director of the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) and a name that’s instantly identifiable with the Sushant Singh Rajput drugs case and of course now with the Aryan Khan case. There’s a growing notion that the NCB is targeting Bollywood celebrities and gunning for the lives of the rich and famous. It’s the proverbial elephant in the room and in a rare and fortuitous moment, Wankhede culls out five brisk minutes from his never-ending crusade against crime to address the allegations and put forth the views of the law and enforcement agencies. Excerpts from a conversation about the real truth behind the drugs busts in Bollywood. Read on...

There have been multiple instances where it has been said that we target Bollywood, but let’s not talk about opinions, let’s talk about facts and more importantly, statistics. In the last year, we have booked a total of 105 cases in 10 months. That’s an average of 10-12 cases every month. Now you tell me, out of those 105 cases, how many are celebrities? I’ll tell, a handful of them at best.

This year alone, we’ve made more than 310 arrests. How many of those are celebrities? Everyone would know, because that’s the only thing that is talked about. We’ve seized illegal substances worth Rs 150 crores this year. Has anyone spoken about that?

Today, the media is playing up Aryan Khan's story. Just two days ago we seized Rs 5 crores worth of drugs and no media house in country wrote about it. Last week, we seized drugs worth Rs 6 crores connected to the underworld.

Nobody chose to comment on these cases. One of my staff members got seriously injured when he had to fight off Nigerian drug cartels. Nobody from Bollywood spoke about that and no media house reported that incident.

There’s a valid reason though. When we arrest someone, the media will play it up only when the arrested person is a known face. But instead of appreciating our efforts, we get blamed for targeting that popular celeb.

That’s why it’s important to talk about the statistics and that’s why I have brought it up in our conversation. The media only writes about the NCB when a big name is involved in our case. So everyone who looks at us, feels that we only go after big names and it looks like we’re targeting them. When that’s not the case, at all. The big names are just a very small fraction of the people we end up apprehending.

End of the day, we are just doing our job. We are enforcing rules and those rules are the same for everyone. They are equal for everybody, so why should we let celebrities, who don’t follow those rules walk away scot free? Just because they are famous? Does that give them the right to violate the rules? If we see a famous person breaking the law, we shouldn’t do anything about it? Should I only run after the drug peddlers and conduct my operations and raids in slums alone? It can’t be like that.

When I get a valuable tip off, and I see a violation in progress, I will act on it. Do you want me to succumb to the pressure of the high and mighty? Should I succumb to the power of the rich folks? Will the people of the country be happy if I do that?

I completely agree with your assessment. This case has become a huge spectacle. But, after case number 16, (the official assigned case number for the Sushant Singh Rajput drugs case), today was crime number 105. Do you realise the sheer magnitude of the volume of violations? Why are people not talking about the other cases that we crack down on to eradicate the drugs menace. Nobody is interested in reporting the ‘unglamorous’ cases or even discussing the regular cases. Why? At the NCB we can’t stay quiet. We have been booking cases nonstop. We are cracking down on and apprehending hard-core criminals. We’ve bust 12 gangs operating major drugs networks. Did anyone report about those missions?

Had the Mumbai Zonal Unit of the NCB cracked five cases and out of those five, four had been celebrities, then I would have accepted the argument that we’re only targeting glamour and trying to hog the limelight. But the fact is, there have been only two cases related to the film industry. Then, how are these allegations fair? How are these allegations relevant? (Smiles) They’re not.