Nawab Malik questions birth certificate of NCB official Sameer Wankhede

In another attack against the Narcotics Control Bureau’s zonal director Sameer Wankhede, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader and state minister Nawab Malik on Monday raised questions over the birth certificate of the officer. Malik tweeted a copy of a birth certificate that read the name of the officer’s father as Dawood K Wankhede.

“Forgery by Sameer Dawood Wankhede started from here,” Malik tweeted. In another tweet, he posted an old picture of Sameer Wankhede with a question, “Guess who.”

In a written statement, Wankhede said that publishing his personal documents on Twitter is defamatory in nature and an unnecessary invasion of the privacy of his family. “It is intended to malign me, my family, my father and my late mother. The series of allegations of Hon minister over the last few days have put me and my family under tremendous mental and emotional pressure. I am pained by the nature of personal defamatory, slanderous attacks by the hon minister without any justification,” the statement added.

The statement also says that his father, Dnyandev Kachruji Wankhede, is a Hindu and his mother late Zaheeda was a Muslim. “I belong to a composite multi-religious and secular family and I am proud of my heritage,” the officer said.

The Bharatiya Janata Party has hit back raising questions over the intention of the leaders from the ruling parties. According to the document issued by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation and tweeted by Malik, the officer’s mother’s name is Zahera Bano.

In a press statement issued by the NCP, questions have also been raised over Wankhede’s first marriage. A picture of his first marriage in 2006 has gone viral on social media.

The statement by Wankhede adds that he was married to Dr Shabana Qureshi in 2006. They mutually decided to file a divorce in 2016 and the next year, Wankhede got married to actress Kranti Redkar.

Last week, Malik said that he will not stop until the NCB officer is put behind the bars. The NCP leader said that Wankhede will lose his job within a year. In a series of press conferences in the last three weeks, Malik raised many questions over the operations by the NCB in cruise drugs raids. BJP office-bearer Manish Bhanushal was also seen as part of the team of officers raiding the cruise.

Meanwhile, Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut on Monday lauded the “bravery” of Prabhakar Sail, the independent witness in the cruise drug bust case, and demanded security as he’s is the key witness in the case. The Sena leader also demanded a probe by a Special Investigation Team (SIT) on the recent developments, stating it was a conspiracy to defame Maharashtra by political parties and central agencies “under the garb of nationalism”.

On Sunday, Sail alleged that he was made to sign on blank papers as pancha (witness) on the night when the NCB officials conducted a raid at the International Cruise Terminal, Green Gate, on October 2 and arrested Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan Khan, his friend Arbaaz Merchant and fashion designer Munmun Dhamecha. Sail, 40, claimed that he used to work as a bodyguard of KP Gosavi, one of the nine witnesses in the case.

“He is a key witness in this case and the home department must provide him security. I have spoken to home minister [Dilip] Walse-Patil. The witness has brought to light this conspiracy by one political party with the help of a few officials to defame Maharashtra,” said Raut. He also added, “Prabhakar Sail has done a great service to the country and the state. Therefore, the state must provide him security and I am confident it will be provided.”

Raut also said the entire case is also about money laundering. “Sam D’Souza is the biggest money-laundering player of Mumbai and the country. He launders money for political leaders, IAS-IPS officers. It’s a big game which has just started. The facts which came to light are shocking. Under the pretext of nationalism, some people are extorting money, lodging fake cases,” Raut said.

The Sena chief spokesperson added that the “thread” of the case will go “right up to Delhi”. “The things that have come to light are startling. I think there should be an SIT probe on this matter,” he said. Reacting to the letter by NCB zonal director Sameer Wankhede to “ensure that no precipitate legal action is carried out” against him by “unknown persons” with “ulterior motives” to frame him, Raut said, “If he’s not done anything then he need not worry.”

BJP has hit back at the ruling parties questioning as to who is behind the rebuttal of witness Prabhakar Sail. “It needs to come to the light that who is behind Sail’s statement and in which hotel was Sail’s statement recorded? Shielding the drug mafia is the real intention behind it? Is Sail being threatened to become part of the extortion gang of the ruling party? The entire episode needs to be investigated by the CBI to check all these links. His mobile locations and call records need to be checked to find out who all were in contact with the witness for the last 22 days. We firmly beleive that the truth will prevail,” said BJP leader Ram Kadam.