Sameer Wankhede, the Narcotics Bureau officer leading investigations into the drugs case involving Shah Rukh Khan's son, Aryan Khan, hit back Monday at Nationalist Congress Party leader and Maharashtra minister Nawab Malik over the latter's allegations of forgery.
Mr Malik, who has been spearheading criticism of the anti-drugs agency and its investigation into Aryan Khan and others connected with Mumbai drugs-on-cruise case, this morning tweeted a photo of a document related to Mr Wankhede's birth and claimed, "the forgery began from here".
According to NCB sources Mr Wankhede, who is set to question young actor Ananya Panday today (also in connection with the drugs-on-cruise case), has slammed the "shoddy" comment.
Agency sources quoted him as saying: "I have come to know about a recent tweet by Nawab Malik regarding caste certificate. This is a shoddy attempt to bring in things that are unrelated to (the drugs case). My mother was Muslim... (why) does he want to bring my dead mother into this?".
"To verify my caste and background anyone can visit my native place and verify my descent from my great-grandfather. But he should not spread this filth like this. I will fight all this legally and don't want to comment too much on this out of court," the NCB officer said, according to sources.
Nawab Malik's tweet comes a day after Mr Wankhede wrote to Mumbai Police and sought protection from legal action fearing "being framed" falsely with "ulterior motives".
Mr Wankhede wrote claiming threats of jail and dismissal from "highly respectable public functionaries" - a statement seen as referring to Mr Malik's remark that he would soon lose his job.
Advertisement"They (BJP) have a puppet - Wankhede. He raises bogus cases... I challenge Wankhede that he'll lose his job within a year... We have evidence of bogus cases," he was quoted by news agency ANI.
Among other claims, Nawab Malik has also alleged Sameer Wankhede was in the Maldives during the lockdown and that he was targeting Bollywood personalities for an extortion racket.
AdvertisementNawab Malik has also repeatedly claimed the NCB case is "fake" and was triggered by the centre to malign the Maharashtra government. "Attempts were made to implicate certain people..." he said.
Earlier on Sunday, a witness had made sensational claims against Mr Wankhede.
AdvertisementPrabhakar Sail - who claims to be a personal bodyguard to KP Gosavi, the alleged private investigator whose selfie with Aryan Khan went viral - claimed he heard a conversation between him and one Sam D'Souza on October 3 about an 18-crore deal.
KP Gosavi, who has gone missing, had said Rs 8 crore would be given to Sameer Wankhede, Mr Sail has said in an affidavit.
Aryan Khan has been in jail since October 8, and he has been denied bail after heated hearings in lower courts. He has now applied to the Bombay High Court, which will hear his plea tomorrow.
