Incidentally, Malik and Wankhede have a personal connection. Sort of. On 13 January, Malik’s son-in-law Sameer Khan was arrested by NCB in connection with a drug case
File image of Sameer Wankhede. PTI
The back and forth between NCP leader Nawab Malik and Narcotics Control Bureau Mumbai zonal director Sameer Wankhede over the drug bust case is spicing up.
Accusing Wankhede of extorition and being part of a conspiracy, Malik on Thursday derided him as a ‘puppet’ and claimed that he would lose his job within a year.
Addressing party workers in Pune district’s Maval tehsil, Malik said as per ANI, “They have a puppet, Wankhede. He raises bogus cases against people. I challenge Samir Wankhede from this stage that Wankhede will lose his job in a year. He had come to put us behind bars. The people of this nation will not be silent without seeing you behind bars. Wankhede has been indulged in bogus activities and we have the evidence to prove it. Once those evidences come out he will not be able to continue doing his job any further.”
“Tell us who your father is, the one who is putting pressure? Nawab Malik is not going to be scared of anyone’s father whatever pressure you may try to put on me. I will not stop until I put you in jail, I would like to make this clear today,” Malik added.
Wankhede, a top Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer, had previously probed actress Rhea Chakraborty’s drugs conspiracy link in connection with actor Sushant Singh Rajput’s death and has been in the news lately for the raid in the Mumbai cruise ship drug bust case.
Malik on Thursday told India Today, “Attempts were made to implicate certain people in false cases. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the entire film industry was in Maldives. What was the officer [Sameer Wankhede] and his family doing in Maldives and Dubai? This has to be clarified by Sameer Wankhede. We demand that he clarify whether he was in Dubai.”
Malik on Thursday, taking to Twitter, released some purported photos of his sister Yasmeen:
Here are the proofs! pic.twitter.com/ouq3nUXcs7
— Nawab Malik ???? ??? ???? ???? (@nawabmalikncp) October 21, 2021
‘Never been to Dubai’, says Wankhede
Wankhede, responding to the allegations, vowed legal action against the Maharashtra minister. “I am a very small government servant. He might be a big minister. If, to serve the country, I am imprisoned, then I welcome it. I have never been to Dubai. There are mechanisms to check where a person is This is completely false. I have never been to Dubai with my sister. The date that Nawab Malik has given is false. For the last 15 days, my family is being attacked,” he said.
“I had taken the required permission of the government before I went to Maldives. My retired dad, my sister are being attacked. I condemn it. I give him (Nawab Malik) all my wishes… if he wants to send me to jail for removing drugs from our streets then he is most welcome… he can verify my passport if required. I will take permission from my agency before I go for any legal action against Nawab Malik. He has targeted my dead mother… my sister.. .and my father. I have never met any celebrities here,” the NCB official said.
“No one can do extortion when he’s on a family vaccination and with his kids How can someone take their kid along for any extortion? He is leveling allegations on someone who is serving the nation. Someone who is professionally working you are targeting him and his family for that. My morale wont be down [sic]… this will help me do my work better. I will work doubly hard. The word ‘extortion’ is a disgusting term. I did go to Maldives after taking competent authority’s permission. I went with my children and family after taking govt’s permission. If he calls that extortion, then this is not acceptable.” Wankhede said.
Reacting to Malik’s claims, NCB DDG Ashok Mutha Jain told ANI that after joining NCB, there was no application from Wankhede for going to Dubai. “He sought permission for going to Maldives with his family,” Jain added.
This comes a day after Malik called the actions taken by the NCB in the cruise drug case ‘fake’ and accused the agency of misleading Mumbai’s Special Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) court.
Reacting to the rejection of the bail applications of Aryan Khan, Arbaaz Merchant and Munmun Dhamecha for their alleged involvement in the cruise drugs party case, Malik said, “All the actions of the NCB were bogus. And I am still adamant about that. No drugs were found on the cruise. All this action is fake. The NCB is trying to terrorise them in Mumbai.”
“The NCB is misleading the court. But all this will become clear in the future,” he added.
Incidentally, Malik and Wankhede have a personal connection. Sort of. On 13 January, Malik’s son-in-law Sameer Khan was arrested by NCB in connection with a drug case.
On Thursday, actor Ananya Panday appeared before the NCB after the central agency allegedly came across WhatsApp chats during its investigation against Aryan Khan, son of actor Shah Rukh Khan.
Meanwhile, Mumbai’s Special Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) court on Wednesday rejected bail applications of Aryan Khan, Arbaaz Merchant and Munmun Dhamecha for their alleged involvement in the cruise drugs party case.
An NCB team busted an alleged drugs party on the Cordelia Cruise ship which was on its way to Goa at mid-sea on 2 October.
A total of 20 people, including two Nigerian nationals, have been arrested so far in the case related to the seizure of drugs following a raid at a party on the Cordelia cruise ship off the Mumbai coast on 2 October.
With inputs from ANI