Sameer Wankhede extorted money from celebrities, alleges Nawab Malik

Minister says NCB zonal director visited Maldives, Dubai for ‘settlements’; anti-drug officer denies allegation, says will sue Malik
Faizan Khan (MID-DAY; October 22, 2021)

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.

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.

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.”

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 K P 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 Dubai 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.”
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Prafulla Marpakwar (THE TIMES OF INDIA; October 22, 2021)

Mumbai: NCP spokesperson and minister Nawab Malik on Thursday continued his campaign against NCB zonal director Sameer Wankhede, saying that during the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic, when a section of filmstars was relaxing in Maldives, the family members of NCB zonal director Sameer Wankhede, particularly Wankhede’s sister Yasmeen, were also there. Wankhede himself, Malik alleged, was in Dubai.

“I am told even ‘lady don’ (Yasmeen Wankhede) was in Maldives. We have a question for Wankhede. What was he doing in Dubai along with his family during the pandemic?” Malik said, adding it can’t be a coincidence that film stars and NCB officials were in Maldives at the same time.

Wankhede said Malik is lying. “I went with my family to Maldives one-and-a-half months ago, not during the peak of the pandemic. I had informed my (NCB) headquarters. What is wrong with it?” he said. He said he didn't go to Dubai, and his passport is proof for it. “Anyone can investigate,” he added. Wankhede said his sister and her three children had gone separately to Maldives.

Malik later posted pictures which he claimed were from Wankhede’s visit to a Dubai hotel. Wankhede responded to that, saying, “Let him prove I was in Dubai. I was on duty in Mumbai. He is the minister. Let him check the emigration, passport and documents. Let him prove me wrong.”

Malik claimed he has documentary evidence to establish a huge recovery was made from film stars in Maldives and Dubai. “We have photo evidence, and we will release it at the appropriate time,” he said. All these allegations are baseless, Wankhede said.

NCB has said Malik has launched a campaign against it as it had arrested his son-in-law Sameer Khan. He was released on bail. Malik’s contention is that even the case against his son-in-law was fake. Malik alleged that after actor Sushant Singh Rajput’s death, Wankhede was brought in to take on not only leading stars but the film industry. Wankhede told TOI he has been trying for the NCB post since 2019 and was not brought in to take on film industry.