Former Mumbai zonal director of the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) Sameer Wankhede, who was given a clean chit by the caste scrutiny committee over the fake caste certificate probe against him, said all documents submitted by him for getting a government job are valid and added that he and his father belong to the scheduled caste Mahar community.
“The caste scrutiny committee in Maharashtra has scrapped the complaints filed against us. All the factual documents that we had submitted are valid. Sameer Wankhede and his father definitely belong to the Mahar community,” news agency ANI quoted Wankhede as saying.
The clean chit order was issued by the social justice department of the Maharashtra government on Friday, an official told news agency PTI. According to the order, Wankhede, an IRS officer, was not a Muslim by birth and it has been proven that he belongs to Mahar caste.
What’s the case?
Former Maharashtra minister and NCP leader Nawab Malik had raised the issue of Sameer Wankhede’s caste.
Political leader Manoj Sansare, Ashok Kamble and Sanjay Kamble had filed the applications against Wankhede.
After examining the applications, the Mumbai district caste certificate verification committee passed the order related the case on Friday.
According to the order, it was not proven that Wankhede and his father Dnyandev Wankhede renounced Hinduism and duly converted to Islam.
It said Wankhede and his father-in-law belong to the scheduled caste.
Who is Sameer Wankhede?
Wankhede had made headlines after the NCB raided a Mumbai cruise in October 2021 and arrested Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan’s Aryan Khan and 19 others.
The agency also claimed to have seized some narcotics.
Later, Aryan Khan was given a clean chit by the NCB.
