Mumbai: The Mumbai Cruise Drugs bust case in which Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan's son Aryan is alleged to be involved, on Monday made a somersault as the target of probe became Narcotics Control Bureau Zonal Director Sameer Wankhede after Maharashtra Minister Nawab Malik claimed the NCB officer used a fake caste certificate to get the government job.
Wankhede who is heading the Aryan case has denied the charges levelled by Malik. He also appeared before an NDPS Special court after a witness Prabhakar Sail claimed big money exchanged hands in the case and Wankhede was one of the recipient.
Malik tweeted a purported birth certificate and marriage photo of Wankhede with the captions: ‘Yahanse shuru hua farziwada’ (the fraud started here) and ‘Pehchan Kaun’ (identify who).
The birth certificate showed the NCB officer’s name as ‘Sameer Dawood Wankhede’, and the wedding photograph was of Wankhede with his first wife, Dr. Shabana Qureshi, whom he had later divorced and married Marathi films actress Kranti Redkar.
The ruling Nationalist Congress Party minister claimed that Wankhedde forged documents to get reservations in the (civil services) examinations and job.
Wankhede issued a statement saying that his father is a retired Senior Police Inspector Dnyandev Kachruji Wankhede, who was with the State Excise Department, while his mother is late Zaheeda, who was a Muslim.
Wankhede also confirmed that he had married (Dr. Shabana Qureshi) in a civil ceremony in 2006 under the Special Marriage Act, 1954.
“Both of us divorced mutually through Civil Court in 2016. Later, in 2017, I married Kranti Dinanath Redkar,” said Wankhede
He termed the publishing of his personal documents as ‘defamatory’ and ‘unnecessary invasion of my family privacy’ intended to malign him and his family members.
Wankhede said that the series of acts by Malik in the past few days have put him and his family under tremendous mental and emotional pressure, and he was pained by the “nature of personal, defamatory and slanderous attacks… without justification”.
Malik claimed that as per the birth certificate, Wankhede was born Muslim but allegedly appeared for the civic services (UPSC) exams through a reserved category and became an Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer.
“He has forged the documents to get reservations in the (civil services) examinations and job,” Malik contended.
He further said that the entire cruise drugs bust raid was a fake one and everything was being done to malign the Maharashtra government and terrorise Bollywood.
Earlier in the day, Wankhede appearing before Special Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) court Judge VV Patil, Wankhede said he was being targeted and is ready for any investigation.
In this regard two affidavits were also filed one by the NCB and another by Wankhede. "Charges levelled against Sameer Wankhede are being investigated," NCB Deputy Director General Gyaneshwar Singh said.
In the NCB affidavit it was stated that a legal action has been initiated on the statement made by witness Prabhakar Sail, while Wankhde in his affidavit denied all charges leveled against him and expressing his willingness to face the probe.
Wankhede earlier wrote to Maharashtra Director General of Police Sanjay Pandey requesting not to initiate any action against him as some people were trying to falsely implicate him in the Aryan Khan case.
Wankhede shot the letter after Prabhakar Sail, a witness in the Mumbai cruise drugs bust case disclosed on social and electronic media that for Aryan's release Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan has been approached for money and his boss, KP Gosavi was the middleman.
Sail appeared before Mumbai Crime Branch on Monday after alleging on Sunday that a demand of Rs 25 crore was allegedly made to the Bollywood star and apparently a deal was finalised at Rs 18 crore, out of which Rs 8 crore was said to be given to Wankhede and remaining would be distributed among other people.
Sail has alleged several things regarding the probe and the activities carried out during the raid on the cruise ship off the Mumbai coast on October 2.
The NCB busted the alleged drugs party on the Cordelia Cruise ship which was on its way to Goa at mid-sea on October 2.
Aryan Khan, and few others were arrested during the raid. After the arrest, Aryan made two bail applications in local, as well as in the special court, which were rejected on the ground by local court for having no jurisdiction and the special court saying his release on bail may influence the witnesses and hamper the ongoing investigation.
A fresh bail plea by Aryan's lawyer will come up for hearing on Tuesday before the Bombay High Court. (UNI)
