More trouble brewing for Sameer Wankhede? Another drug case witness alleges being forced to sign blank pages

Express News Service

MUMBAI:  There is more trouble in store for Narcotic Control Bureau (NCB) Zonal Director Sameer Wankhede. One more witness Shekhar Kamble on Wednesday alleged that the NCB had made him sign blank papers as a witness earlier this year. Meanwhile, Bombay High court adjourned Aryan Khan’s bail hearing till Thursday.

A day earlier, Prabhakar Sail made a shocking revelation about him being forced to sign on blank papers as a witness. It was also alleged that a demand was made to Shah Rukh Khan to pay off Rs 25 crore. Kamble, a Navi Mumbai resident who is a witness in a drug bust case being probed by the NCB in August this year, claimed that the NCB had taken his signature on blank papers and later filled it up without informing him about the contents.

Kamble said Sail’s recent interview with the media-inspired him to speak up and “reveal the truth”. He said, “Yesterday night when I got a call from an NCB staffer, he said even he hadn’t read the  letter. When I told him I was made to sign blank papers just like Sail, he asked me not to talk about it but just come to the NCB office.”

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Kamble alleged that during the raid in Navi Mumbai, the main drug peddlers ran away, so the NCB couldn’t nab them. “But they caught two people who had no drugs. However, NCB director Wankhede showed 60 gm drug on paper. I couldn’t do anything. Like Sail I was also insisted to sign on the blank paper as a witness,” Kamble added.

In his reaction, Wankhede said, “Hostile. I’ll comment in court. The matter is subjudice.” On Wednesday, NCP minister Nawab Malik shared the Nikah Nama – marriage certificate of Sameer Wankhede with Dr Shabana Khureshi — where Wankhede name was mentioned as Sameer Dawood Wankhede. “The marriage between Wankhede and Dr Shabana Khureshi had taken place in 2006 as per Islamic law and Rs 30,000 was given as Mehar as per Islamic law,” Malik said.

Qazi – the Muslim priest — said that the marriage was solemnised as per Islamic law. “I was told that all Wankhede family members were Muslim including bride and bridegroom and their parents. The marriage took place in front of more than 2,000 people. How come they deny this public domain fact,” Qazi asked.