Narcotics Control Bureau officer Sameer Wankhede on Monday submitted documents to the National Scheduled Castes Commission to prove that he belongs to the Dalit community, PTI reported.
The zonal chief of the anti-drug agency has been accused of forging documents to get his job under the Scheduled Caste quota.
Vijay Sampla, chairperson of the National Scheduled Castes Commission, told reporters that the panel will verify the documents with the Maharashtra government.
On October 27, Nationalist Congress Party leader Nawab Malik had accused Wankhede of forging the documents. The Maharashtra minister tweeted a copy of Wankhede’s purported marriage certificate, on which his name was mentioned as “Sameer Dawood Wankhede”.
Two days prior to that, Malik had tweeted another document, which he claimed was a copy of Wankhede’s birth certificate. The purported certificate cited his religion as Muslim.
Wankhede’s father, Malik claimed, was born into a Dalit family, but married a Muslim woman and converted to Islam. He took the name “Dawood”, the NCP leader had said.
Meanwhile on Sunday, National Scheduled Castes Commission vice-chairperson Arun Haldar had said that he believed Wankhede belongs to the Mahar community, which is one of the Scheduled Castes, The Indian Express reported. Haldar and other members of the panel visited Wankhede’s home on Sunday to check his caste cerificates.
Earlier on Monday, Malik objected to Haldar’s comment and said that he would file a complaint against the caste panel official, ANI reported. The Nationalist Congress Party leader claimed that Haldar had links with the Bharatiya Janata Party.
“Yesterday, [vice] chairman of the National Scheduled Castes Commission and BJP’s Arun Haldar visited Sameer Wankhede’s residence and [gave] him a clean chit,” Malik said. “He should have conducted an investigation first and submitted a detailed report. We will complain about him to the president.”
‘Nawab Malik’s allegations baseless,’ says Ramdas Athawle
Union Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment Ramdas Athawale on Sunday claimed that Malik’s allegations against Wankhede were baseless and that he was attempting to defame the Narcotics Control Bureau official, reported The Hindu.
“Wankhede is an Ambedkarite and is from the Dalit community,” Athawale said. “The Republican Party of India (RPI-A) firmly stands by him. Nawab Malik should stop hurling such personal allegations against Wankhede and his family.”
The Union minister’s support for Wankhede came after the Narcotics Control Bureau official’s wife, Kranti Wankhede, and his father Dnyandev Wankhede met him on Sunday. Athawale also said that Wankhede was an “extremely active and able officer” who worked with no regard for consequences.
“If Aryan Khan had indeed not consumed drugs, then why did the court take such a long time in granting him bail?” the minister said, according to The Hindu.
Wankhede is heading the investigation into the case in which actor Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan Khan had been arrested.
Khan was granted bail in a drugs case on Thursday by the Bombay High Court. The son of actor Shah Rukh Khan and several others were detained by the Narcotics Control Bureau after a raid on a cruise ship off the coast of Mumbai on October 2.
During the raid, the agency claimed to have seized 13 grams of cocaine, 5 grams of mephedrone, 21 grams of charas, 22 pills of MDMA (ecstasy) and Rs 1.3 lakh from the ship.
Aryan Khan walked out of Arthur Road jail in Mumbai on Saturday after spending almost a month there.
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