‘Not a Muslim by birth’: Ex-NCB officer Wankhede gets clean-chit in fake caste certificate case

India

oi-Prakash KL

Mumbai,
Aug
13:
Former
Mumbai
zonal
director
of
the
Narcotics
Control
Bureau
(NCB)
Sameer
Wankhede
has
got
a
clean
chit
by
the
Social
Justice
Department
of
the
Maharashtra
government,
which
noted
that
he
was
not
a
Muslim
by
birth,
in
connection
with
the
case
certificate
case

He
was
facing
allegations
of
forging
a
caste
certificate
to
get
a
government
job.

The
order
was
issued
by
the
Social
Justice
Department
of
the
Maharashtra
government
on
Friday,
an
official
informed
PTI.
The
order
says
that
Wankhede,
an
Indian
Revenue
Service
(IRS)
officer,
was
not
a
Muslim
by
birth
and
it
has
been
proven
that
he
belongs
to
Mahar
caste,
which
is
a
Scheduled
Caste
(SC).

Former
Maharashtra
minister
and
NCP
leader
Nawab
Malik
had
raked
up
the
issue
of
Wankhede’s
caste
and
applications
were
filed
by
the
complainants,
including
political
leader
Manoj
Sansare,
Ashok
Kamble
and
Sanjay
Kamble,
against
Wankhede.

Mumbai
district
caste
certificate
verification
committee
examined
the
complaints
and
passed
an
order
on
the
same
on
Friday.
The
order
says
that
it
was
not
proven
that
Wankhede
and
his
father
Dnyandev
Wankhede
renounced
Hinduism
and
duly
converted
to
Islam.

It
is
proven
that
Wankhede
and
his
father
in
law
belong
to
the
Scheduled
Caste
that
is
Mahar-37,
the
order
stated.
Complaints
filed
by
Nawab
Malik
and
others
regarding
the
caste
claim
of
Wankhede
and
regarding
the
religion
of
the
caste
certificate
are
not
substantiated,
following
which
complaints
are
being
rejected
due
to
lack
of
the
facts
in
the
complaint,
the
order
said.

Wankhede
came
to
the
spotlight
after
he
raided
following
the
high-profile
October,
2021
raids
by
the
NCB
on
a
Mumbai
cruise
after
which
the
agency
had
arrested
Aryan
Khan,
son
of
actor
Shah
Rukh
Khan,
and
19
others
and
claimed
to
have
seized
some
narcotics
too.
The
NCB
had
later
given
a
clean
chit
to
Aryan
Khan.

In
May,
Wankhede
was
transferred
to
the
Directorate
General
of
Tax
Payer
Services
(DGTS),
Chennai
as
additional
commissioner.