Minister says NCB zonal director visited Maldives, Dubai for ‘settlements’; anti-drug officer denies allegation, says will sue Malik
Sameer Wankhede at the NCB office. File pic/Suresh Karkera (right) Nawab Malik has been relentless in his attacks on Wankhede
Sameer Wankhede, NCB’s zonal director, visited Dubai and Maldives with his family during the Sushant Singh Rajput episode last year and did “settlements” with Bollywood people, alleged state minority minister Nawab Malik on Thursday, intensifying his attack on the anti-drug officer. Wankhede said he never visited Dubai and that he would sue the minister. Malik has been relentless in his attacks following Aryan Khan’s arrest.
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Malik said the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) officer had extorted crores of rupees from Bollywood personalities in connivance with the BJP. “He has been making false cases against celebrities to extort money and some dealings have happened in Dubai and Maldives. He along with his family visited Dubai and Maldives during the investigation of Sushant Singh Rajput last year between September and December. There are pictures of his sister in Maldives which she has posted on her social media handle.” he said.
Sameer Wankhede at NCB office in South Mumbai. File pic
Though Malik says Wankhede’s sister visited the Maldives in September 2020, her photos taken in the island nation were posted on her Instagram page last month. Malik said, “The entire Wankhede family is bogus and I am going to prove this with evidence very soon. The day I bring those evidence before the public he will lose his post as an officer and he has to face suspension. Now he has been calling through other people that he didn’t frame my son-in-law and it was done on behalf of some people but he is not revealing the names of those people.”
Earlier, the NCB had arrested Malik’s son-in-law Sameer Khan in an illicit drug trafficking case. A special NDPS court granted him bail, saying charges of illegal drug trafficking and harbouring won’t sustain against him under section 27A and 29 of the NDPS Act. Insisting that it has strong material against Sameer Khan, the NCB said that it would move the high court to challenge the order. Sameer Khan spent nearly 8.5 months in jail. Addressing party workers, NCP leader Malik also said, “The MVA government is not scared of anybody or any agency that the Centre is using to destabilise the government. I want to tell them that they won’t succeed.”
‘Baseless allegations’
Wankhede rejected Malik’s allegation. “The allegations levelled by Malik are baseless. I will take legal action against him for targeting female members of my family. I have never visited Dubai in my life since I have joined the service. I have never visited Maldives with my sister. I officially took leave from the government and went on a holiday with my family with my hard-earned money.”
State minority minister Nawab Malik levelled the fresh allegations as he addressed NCP workers in Pune on Thursday
Malik has held four press conferences where he made serious charges against what he called NCB’s wrongdoings in the Aryan Khan case. He said that the case was fake and Aryan Khan was framed by the NCB on the instructions of the BJP. The informer in the cruise drug bust case, Manish Bhanu, was a BJP member and he was a panch in the case, while another panch KP Gosavi is a wanted accused, he has said. He alleged that NCB let go of three people, including the brother-in-law of a BJP leader on October 3.
Mutha Ashok Jain, NCB’s deputy director-general, said through a press release that Wankhede had visited Maldives with his family on July 27 last year after the approval of the “competent authority”. “Certain incorrect information has been circulated against Sameer Wankhede, IRS, Zonal Director of Mumbai. He was inducted as Zonal Director, Mumbai on 31.08.2020 on loan basis for the period of six months and after this, he has not submitted any application for Ex-India leave to Dubal and as per the approval of Competent Authority on 27.07.2021, the officer has availed Ex-India leave along with his family to Maldives,” reads the press release.
Soon after, Malik tweeted photos of Wankhede and his sister saying, “Sameer Wankhede has accepted the fact that he had visited Maldives but he denies the visit to Dubai. Here is the proof of his visit to Dubai with his sister. Sameer Wankhede was at Grand Hyatt Hotel in Dubai on 10th December 2020. His lie stands exposed.” The pictures were taken from the social media account of Wankhede’s sister. Wankhede said, “The photos Malik is talking about are of Mumbai. I was in Mumbai at that time.”
Dec
Month in 2020 when Malik claims Wankhede, his sister visited Dubai
July 27
Date in 2020 when Wankhede visited Maldives as per NCB
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