Mumbai: Following a barrage of allegations, including extortion in the Aryan Khan case, Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) zonal director Sameer Wankhede appeared before a 5-member team of the agency here on Wednesday and termed them as ‘false’.
Earlier in the day, the NCB’s Deputy Director General (DDG)-northern region Gyaneshwar Singh told the media the statement of Wankhede in connection with the departmental vigilance into allegations of extortion in the drugs-on-cruise case was being recorded.
Accusing him of extortion, NCP leader Nawab Malik had said that the NCB official will lose his job within a year. He further alleged that Wankhede was involved in unlawful phone tapping
On Monday, Malik posted Wankhede’s birth certificate on Twitter, saying “Sameer Dawood Wankhede’s fraud started from here.”
He also tweeted a copy of the latter’s marriage certificate, and his photograph with his first wife, Shabana Quraishi, at their wedding. “This is the ‘Nikah Nama‘ of the first marriage of ‘Sameer Dawood Wankhede’ with Dr Shabana Quraishi,” Malik wrote in the tweet.
Kranti Redkar Wankhede, actor and wife of NCB zonal director Sameer Wankhede admitted to the ‘nikah’ of her husband but was quick to add that he didn’t change his religion. “It was just a formality as my mother-in-law was Muslim and for her happiness, nikah happened. The birth certificate shared by Nawab Malik is wrong,” she said.
The actor of Gangaajal fame further said that Malik has acted against constitutional oath by sharing their personal photos “We’ll take legal action against him, an FIR has been registered. His only motive is to remove Sameer Wankhede from his post so that his son-in-law could be saved,” she added.
Speaking to the media, Wankhede’s father Dnyandev Wankhede questioned how his son could be a Muslim when he is a Dalit?
Meanwhile, Malik maintained that through his tweets, he wanted to bring to light the fraudulent means Wankhede allegedly used to obtain a caste certificate to get into the Indian Revenue Service (IRS).
Issuing a statement earlier, Wankhede had dared the minister to show proof that he converted his religion. “I am a Hindu from birth and I come from a Dalit family. I am a Hindu today also. I have never undergone any sort of religious conversion. India is a secular nation and I am proud of it,” he said.
“My father is a Hindu and my mother was a Muslim. I love them both. My mother wanted me to follow Muslim customs for my marriage. But the same month, I got my marriage registered under the Special Marriage Act… because when people from two different religions get married, the marriage is registered under this Act,” he added.
