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

Mangalore Today News Network

Mumbai, Aug 13, 2022: Bringing an end to a year-long row, the Cast Scrutiny Committee has given a clean chit to former NCB officer Sameer Wankhede in the caste certificate case.

The committee has also upheld the caste certificate held by Wankhede. In a 91-page order, the panel had taken down submissions from each side and then concussed that Wankhede was not a Muslim by birth. The committee also concluded that Sameer Wankhede and his father Dyaneshwar Wankhede had not renounced Hinduism and adopted the Muslim religion.

The order further states that Sameer Wankhede and his father belong to Mahar-37 Scheduled Caste that is recognised in the Hindu religion.

Wankhede took to Twitter soon after the development and wrote, “Satyameva Jayate.”

"All my life I have worked for the service of the propel, but what hurt me was the fact that my family and dead mother was also not spared," the former NCB officer said.

The committee held that the complaint by former Maharastra cabinet minister and NCP leader Nawab Malik and other complainants like Manoj Sansare, Ashok Kamble, and Sanjay Kamble, who had complained about the caste certificate of Sameer Wankhede, were not able to substantiate their claim.

The issue had cropped up last year when Wankhede was heading the Narcotic Control Bureau in Mumbai. Wankhede alleged that Malik as a cabinet minister at that time, had raked up the issue of his caste certificate only because his team had arrested Sameer Khan, Malik’s son-in-law in a drug case. Khan was in prison for the first half of 2021 and after his release, Malik started making these allegations. The controversies that erupted due to the allegations levelled in the Drug Cruise case of 2021 in which Actor Shahrukh Khan’s son Aryan Khan was involved also only gave more fuel to the anti-Wankhede tirade.

Malik and others had levelled the allegation that Wankhede’s father, Dyaneshwar Wankhede, who was from the Mahar community, had renounced Hinduism and had converted to being a Muslim in order to get married to his wife, who was Muslim by birth. According to the allegations, Wankhede was born Muslim and had even married a Muslim woman by the rituals enshrined in that religion. However, when the caste scrutiny issued notice to Wankhede on receiving the complainants, Wankhede’s legal team including advocate Divakar Rai had replied to the legations in detail.

The caste scrutiny committee was chaired by Anita Meshram (Wankhede) and had Salima Tadvi as member and Sunita Mate as member secretary.

Expressing disappointment at the order, advocate Nitin Satpute, who had appeared for Kamle, said, “Sameer Wankhede Caste is already challenged by me in High court, in Writ Petition No WPL/26957/2021, We had no much expectations from Caste Scrutiny Committee, but have faith in High Court.”

Courtesy: India Today