‘Sameer Wankhede is an Ambedkarite, his father’s name is not Dawood,’ says RPI (A) chief
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Pune: The political mud-slinging match over the Mumbai cruise drug bust case continued unabated with Union Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment Ramdas Athawale on Sunday jumping in the fray. He accused senior Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader and Maharashtra Minister Nawab Malik of deliberately trying to defame Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) zonal director Sameer Wankhede and termed Malik’s allegations against Wankhede as “baseless”.
“Wankhede is an Ambedkarite and is from the Dalit community. The Republican Party of India (RPI-A) firmly stands by him. Nawab Malik should stop hurling such personal allegations against Wankhede and his family,” remarked Athawale.
The RPI-A president was speaking after Wankhede’s wife, Kranti Redkar and his father, Dnyandev Kachru Wankhede, met him to seek his support against Malik’s allegations.
The NCP minister had earlier alleged that Wankhede was born a muslim but that he forged documents, including a caste certificate, to pass off as a Scheduled Caste (SC) person in order to avail of the ‘recruitment under quota’ benefits after clearing the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) exams.
Malik has been casting aspersions on Wankhede and his investigation methods since the latter led the raid on a cruise ship off the Mumbai coast on October 2 in which the NCB claimed to have allegedly recovered drugs. Among the 20 persons arrested during the raid were Aryan Khan, the son of Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan, who was later released on bail.
Describing Wankhede as an “extremely active and able officer” who went about his job regardless of the consequences, Athawale said: “If Aryan Khan had indeed not consumed drugs, then why did the court take such a long time in granting him bail?”
Athawale further said that he needed to take a stand a leader of the Dalit community as he felt that injustice was being done to Wankhede and his family by Malik’s allegations.
“Nawab Malik’s allegations have no basis in fact…let him try and move the court if he thinks otherwise. The name of Sameer Wankhede’s father is not Dawood. I have also seen all their documents…Malik’s continuous stream of allegations tantamount to defamation of the entire SC community,” Athawale remarked. He further added that Malik was levelling these allegations merely because his son-in-law was put behind bars in an alleged drug-related case.
