Targeting Mumbai unit chief of Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) Sameer Wankhede yet again, Maharashtra Minister and senior NCP leader Nawab Malik on Tuesday accused Wankhede of "enjoying" a lavish lifestyle from the proceeds of extortion money.
Talking to media persons here, Malik claimed that Wankhede was seen wearing shoes worth Rs 2 lakh, shirts and T-shirts that cost more than Rs 50,000 and Rs 30,000, respectively, and had watches worth Rs 20 lakh.
"How can an honest and upright officer afford such expensive clothes? He extorts crores of rupees by wrongly framing people and uses money for his lavish lifestyle. If this is the living of an honest officer, we wish it for the whole country," the minister said. Malik charged that Wankhede had “a private army”—led by his sister Yasmeen Wankhede – that “frames people over drug charges and extorts money”.
"I am sharing a WhatsApp chat with you... In these chats, lady-don Yasmeen Wankhede is talking to a person arrested over drugs. She is sharing her visiting card and address. Why is the sister of the NCB officer communicating with a drug accused?,” Malilk asked.
Meanwhile, Wankhede has denied Malik’s fresh allegations against him and his sister, terming them as “false”. He said that a drug peddler had approached his sister, Yasmeen Wankhede, for legal representation. "A (drug) peddler named Salman had approached my sister. But, she told him doesn't take up NDPS cases, so she sent him back. Salman tried to trap us via a middleman. He was arrested and is in jail. False allegations being levelled by sharing his WhatsApp chat," news agency ANI quoted Wankhede as saying.
"The middleman tried to trap us... had given a false complaint earlier this year to Mumbai Police. But nothing came out of it. After that, peddlers like Salman were used to trap my family. Such attempts are going on... the drug mafia is behind this," Wankhede said.
Alluding to Malik’s charge about his “lavish lifestyle”, Wankhede said the NCP leader’s claims were based on rumours. "As far as my expensive clothes are concerned, it is just a rumour. He (Malik) does not have knowledge," he said.
Wankhede’s name has figured in the allegations made by made by “panch witness” in the mid-sea bust case Prabhakar Sail against an accused Kiran Gosavi, who is also a “witness” in the case, in an affidavit dated October 23.
Sail’s sensational affidavit dated October 23, it may be recalled, had caused considerable embarrassment to the anti-drug agency, prompting the NCB to launch a vigilance inquiry against Wankhede. The Mumbai police are looking into allegations made by Sail.
In his sensational affidavit released to the media on Sunday, Sail made a sensational claim about an alleged Rs 8 crore extortion attempt made in the mid-sea drug bust case. Sail has also said that Wankhede’s colleague had taken his signatures on 10 blank papers.
Among other things, Sail has alleged in his affidavit that he “overheard” Kiran Gosavi, for whom he works as a personal bodyguard” and who is also an “independent” witness in the case, while talking one Sam D’Souza, as saying: "you put a bomb of Rs 25 crore, let's settle for Rs 18 crore and give 8 crore to Sameer Wakhende”.
Gosavi is one of the nine independent witnesses in the mid-sea drug bust case in which SRK’s eldest son Aryan Khan and seven others were detained on October 2 and formally arrested on October 3.Gosavi, who was arrested on Thursday last, is an accused booked in 2018 for allegedly cheating one Chinmay Deshmukh, a Pune-based man, to the tune of Rs 3.09 lakh on the pretext of offering a job in Malaysia. The Pune Police filed a charge sheet against him in May 2019 in the cheating case.Sail also stated in his affidavit that he had seen Pooja Dadlani (Shah Rukh Khan's manager) talking to Gosavi. He also claimed that on being told so by Gosavi, he went to a location some time later to collect Rs 50 lakh cash and that he collected “two bags filled with money”.
Sail claimed that he carried the two bags of cash and delivered them to Sam D’souza near Trident Hotel in south Mumbai. “However, when he (Sam D’souza) counted the case, it was only Rs 38 lacs,” he stated in the affidavit.