Athawale considers Nawab Malik’s allegations against Sameer Wankhede as ‘baseless’

The Union Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment Ramdas Athawale extended his support to the Narcotic Control Bureau (NCB) zonal director Sameer Wankhede stating that the allegations made against him by Maharashtra minister Nawab Malik are all baseless.

“Nawab Malik has made all sorts of baseless allegations against Sameer Wankhede. They are defaming our community. The name of Sameer’s father is not Dawood. I have also seen all their documents,” said Athawale.

Athawale said that Nawab Malik is charging Wankhede with several allegations because his son-in-law was jailed owing to a drug case.

Athawale, who is the president of the Republican Party of India (A), claimed that Nawab Malik and his associates were “conspiring to defame” the officer and his family. He even requested the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) to stop doing the same.

Recently, Malik has accused Wankhede of using forged documents and certificates to get into a government job under the Scheduled Caste category. He even considers Wankhede to be a Muslim.

“If he says that Sameer is a Muslim then why is he, a Muslim too, levelling allegations? The Republican Party stands with them. Sameer won’t be harmed,” said Athawale in response to the allegations.

On Sunday, Sameer’s wife Kranti Redkar Wankhede and his father Dnyandev Wankhede met Ramdas Athaawale. “Injustice is being done to him. So, I needed to take a stand and support them,” Athawale added.

Kranti Redkar Wankhede stated, “Union Ramdas Athawale is supporting us because we have shown all the documents to him. He is empathetic for our state. All claims made by Nawab Malik have been proven false.”

Meanwhile, after meeting Wankhede on Saturday National Commission for Scheduled Castes vice-chairperson Arun Halder stated that he thinks the former belongs to Scheduled Caste. “After listening to his complaint, I think he is from a Scheduled Caste. He has denied the allegation of any religious conversion,” Halder stated.

However, Sameer Wankhede who is leading the Mumbai cruise drug case has been refuting all the allegations made against him.