News Analysis India

Tag: NCP

  • ‘Family under pressure’: NCB’s Wankhede slams minister Nawab Malik over forged birth certificate claims 

    By PTI

    MUMBAI: Maharashtra NCP minister Nawab Malik on Monday claimed that Narcotics Control Bureau’s zonal director Sameer Wankhede used forged documents including his birth certificate.

    Malik tweeted a photo of the purported certificate, saying “Sameer Dawood Wankhede ka yahan se shuru hua furjiwada. (Sameer Dawood Wankhede’s document forging started from here).”

    Wankhede, an IRS officer of the 2008 batch, slammed the minister, saying his action was defamatory in nature and an invasion of his family’s privacy.

    The NCB official said he was pained by the nature of personal defamatory and slanderous attacks by the minister without any justification.

    Sameer Dawood Wankhede का यहां से शुरू हुआ फर्जीवाड़ा pic.twitter.com/rjdOkPs4T6
    — Nawab Malik نواب ملک नवाब मलिक (@nawabmalikncp) October 25, 2021
    “The series of acts of the minister over the past few days have put me and my family under tremendous mental and emotional pressure,” Wankhede said in a statement.

    An NCB team led by Wankhede earlier this month allegedly seized drugs onboard a cruise ship off the Mumbai coast following which Aryan Khan, the son of Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan, was arrested on October 3.

    ALSO READ: NCB orders vigilance inquiry into ‘extortion’ affidavit against Sameer Wankhede

    Malik has repeatedly termed the cruise drugs bust case as “fake”.

    On Monday, the document posted by Malik on Twitter mentioned the name of the NCB official’s father as Dawood.

    Wankhede said his father’s name is Dnyandev, who was an excise official.

    Malik has been targeting Wankhede after his son-in-law Sameer Khan was arrested in an alleged drug case.

    The minister had claimed that NCB officials booked Sameer Khan under wrong charges and no banned drug was found in his possession.

    Malik, who is also the NCP spokesperson, recently claimed that his government will soon put Wankhede behind the bars.

    On Monday, talking to a news channel in Nanded, Malik claimed that Wankhede is a Muslim by birth.

    “In the past 15 days, whenever I spoke on various subjects like the Maldives tour (of Wankhede), I didn’t get any answers and they were termed as political allegations. But, now the truth has come out,” he said.

    Malik stated that earlier the BJP had said his son-in-law and Aryan Khan are Muslims.

    ALSO READ: NCB, Sameer Wankhede move court against extortion allegations

    Later, the BJP’s “troll army” tried to create an environment, making it a Hindu-Muslim issue via Wankhede, he alleged.

    “NCB zonal director Wankhede’s name is ‘Sameer Dawood Wankhede’, and he is a Muslim by birth. I have published his birth certificate (online). I had to make an effort to find it. He got the IRS job on bogus certificate. I shall reveal more such acts of his ‘bogusgiri’,” he said.

    Malik also alleged that by “hiding” his religion, he (Wankhede) obtained fake documents and through this, the right of a backward class candidate was snatched.

    Notably, Union minister Ramdas Athawale on Sunday came out in support of Wankhede and said targeting a Dalit officer who is doing good work is not right.

    Terming Malik’s allegations against Wankhede as “baseless” and “mischievous”, Athawale had defended the officer, saying he has not done anything wrong.

    ALSO READ: NCB’s Wankhede, middlemen demanded Rs 25 crore from Shah Rukh Khan to release son Aryan in drugs case, claims Witness

    Athawale had also accused Malik of trying to give a religious and casteist colour while targeting Wankhede.

    Meanwhile, reacting to Malik’s claims, Wankhede in a press release said the minister’s act of publishing his personal information on Twitter was “defamatory in nature and unnecessary invasion of his family’s privacy”.

    Wankhede said this was intended to malign him, his family, his father and late mother.

    In the statement, Wankhede mentioned that his father Dnyandev Kachruji Wankhede retired as senior police inspector of the state Excise department, Pune, in June 2007.

    His father is a Hindu and his late mother Zaheeda was a Muslim, the official said.

    Wankhede said he belongs to a “composite, multi-religious and secular family in true Indian tradition” and he is proud of his heritage.

    The NCB official also mentioned that he married Dr Shabana Qureshi in 2006 under the Special Marriage Act.

    Both of them divorced mutually through a civil court in 2016.

    Later, in 2017, he married Kranti Redkar, the official added.

  • Did man behind Aryan Khan’s arrest Sameer Wankhede forge caste certificate to get job?

    By Express News Service

    MUMBAI: Maharashtra NCP minister Nawab Malik on Monday claimed that Narcotics Control Bureau’s zonal director Sameer Wankhede used forged documents including his birth certificate.

    Malik tweeted a photo of the purported certificate, saying “Sameer Dawood Wankhede ka yahan se shuru hua furjiwada. (Sameer Dawood Wankhede’s document forging started from here).”

    Wankhede, an IRS officer of the 2008 batch, slammed the minister, saying his action was defamatory in nature and an invasion of his family’s privacy.

    The NCB official said he was pained by the nature of personal defamatory and slanderous attacks by the minister without any justification.

    Sameer Dawood Wankhede का यहां से शुरू हुआ फर्जीवाड़ा pic.twitter.com/rjdOkPs4T6
    — Nawab Malik نواب ملک नवाब मलिक (@nawabmalikncp) October 25, 2021
    “The series of acts of the minister over the past few days have put me and my family under tremendous mental and emotional pressure,” Wankhede said in a statement.

    An NCB team led by Wankhede earlier this month allegedly seized drugs onboard a cruise ship off the Mumbai coast following which Aryan Khan, the son of Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan, was arrested on October 3.

    ALSO READ: NCB orders vigilance inquiry into ‘extortion’ affidavit against Sameer Wankhede

    Malik has repeatedly termed the cruise drugs bust case as “fake”.

    On Monday, the document posted by Malik on Twitter mentioned the name of the NCB official’s father as Dawood.

    Wankhede said his father’s name is Dnyandev, who was an excise official.

    Malik has been targeting Wankhede after his son-in-law Sameer Khan was arrested in an alleged drug case.

    The minister had claimed that NCB officials booked Sameer Khan under wrong charges and no banned drug was found in his possession.

    Malik, who is also the NCP spokesperson, recently claimed that his government will soon put Wankhede behind the bars.

    On Monday, talking to a news channel in Nanded, Malik claimed that Wankhede is a Muslim by birth.

    “In the past 15 days, whenever I spoke on various subjects like the Maldives tour (of Wankhede), I didn’t get any answers and they were termed as political allegations. But, now the truth has come out,” he said.

    Malik stated that earlier the BJP had said his son-in-law and Aryan Khan are Muslims.

    ALSO READ: NCB, Sameer Wankhede move court against extortion allegations

    Later, the BJP’s “troll army” tried to create an environment, making it a Hindu-Muslim issue via Wankhede, he alleged.

    “NCB zonal director Wankhede’s name is ‘Sameer Dawood Wankhede’, and he is a Muslim by birth. I have published his birth certificate (online). I had to make an effort to find it. He got the IRS job on bogus certificate. I shall reveal more such acts of his ‘bogusgiri’,” he said.

    Malik also alleged that by “hiding” his religion, he (Wankhede) obtained fake documents and through this, the right of a backward class candidate was snatched.

    Notably, Union minister Ramdas Athawale on Sunday came out in support of Wankhede and said targeting a Dalit officer who is doing good work is not right.

    Terming Malik’s allegations against Wankhede as “baseless” and “mischievous”, Athawale had defended the officer, saying he has not done anything wrong.

    ALSO READ: NCB’s Wankhede, middlemen demanded Rs 25 crore from Shah Rukh Khan to release son Aryan in drugs case, claims Witness

    Athawale had also accused Malik of trying to give a religious and casteist colour while targeting Wankhede.

    Meanwhile, reacting to Malik’s claims, Wankhede in a press release said the minister’s act of publishing his personal information on Twitter was “defamatory in nature and unnecessary invasion of his family’s privacy”.

    Wankhede said this was intended to malign him, his family, his father, and his late mother.

    In the statement, Wankhede mentioned that his father Dnyandev Kachruji Wankhede retired as senior police inspector of the state Excise department, Pune, in June 2007.

    “My mother was Muslim and my father a Hindu. I got married to Dr Shabhana Qureshi under the special marriage act. Then we got legally divorced and I married Kranti Redkar. There is a malicious campaign to defame me and my family members,” Wankhede added.

    Sources said Sameer Wankhede’s father converted to Islam to marry his wife Zaheeda and changed his name from Dnyandev to Dawood. However, Sameer Wankhede’s birth certificate was allegedly amended later to remove Dawood and insert Dnyandev as his father’s name. The changes were made when the BMC carried out the digitisation of birth and death certificates.

    “An FIR will be filed against Wankhede stating that he forged documents. An inquiry will be set up to verify his documents and caste certificates. If by birth Sameer Wankhede is Muslim, then he cannot be from the Hindu backward class. All the details will be unearthed in a probe,” said a government official, requesting anonymity.

    (With PTI inputs)

  • Money laundering case: NCP leader Eknath Khadse’s wife Mandakini appears before PMLA court

    By PTI

    MUMBAI: NCP leader Eknath Khadse’s wife Mandakini on Thursday appeared before a special court here in a money laundering case pertaining to the 2016 Pune land deal case.

    The court had issued summons to Mandakini, her husband, son-in-law Girish Chaudhary and other accused in the case after taking cognisance of the chargesheet filed in the case.

    Special judge H S Satbhai, hearing matters related to the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) cases, had in the last hearing rejected Mandakini’s anticipatory bail application.

    The court had then issued a non-bailable warrant against her considering her conduct and disobedience in not appearing before the court when the summons was issued to her last month.

    Mandakini’s lawyer Mohan Tekavde confirmed that she had appeared before the special judge.

    Meanwhile, the court allowed Eknath Khadse’s plea seeking exemption from personal appearance for the day in the wake of the Bombay High Court allowing his pre-arrest bail.

    Khadse’s son-in-law Girish Chaudhary was arrested in the case a few months ago and is currently in judicial custody.

    The ED has alleged that Chaudhary and Khadse had purchased a government land in Bhosari near Pune for Rs 3.75 crore when its actual cost was Rs 31.01 crore.

    The prosecution’s case is that Khadse allegedly misused his official position as state revenue minister at that time to facilitate the transaction.

    In June 2016, Khadse resigned as the revenue minister of the then BJP-led state government following controversy over the purchase of land.

    He quit the BJP in October last year and later joined the NCP.

  • Centre acting against interests of workers; should not remain in power: NCP chief Sharad Pawar

    By PTI

    PUNE: NCP chief Sharad Pawar on Sunday accused the BJP-led central government of acting against the interests of workers and claimed that it was making changes in law so that employees can be removed from service any time.

    He said that those who are against the interests of workers should not be in power.

    Pawar also alleged that the Centre was trying to pose financial hurdles before Maharashtra by not releasing the GST dues.

    Addressing the workers of his party in Pimpri Chinchwad, an industrial township near Pune city, he also told them how Hindustan Antibiotics (HA) as well as several automobile companies were set up there.

    “The present Union government is against the interests of workers. Now anyone can be thrown out of job at any time. The BJP government at the Centre is bringing changes in law so that workers can be removed from service any time. This move is 100 per cent not in the interests of workers,” he said.

    “Those who are against the interest of workers should not be in power…we all have to tell this to them, and for that Pimpri Chinchwad can be one of the cities which will give this strong message,” he added.

    But the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government in the state is going to work for industries and employment generation, he asserted.

    The NCP shares power with the Shiv Sena and the Congress in the Uddhav Thackeray-led MVA government.

    Sharing an anecdote about how the Hindustan Antibiotics started functioning in Pimpri Chinchwad and how manufacturing of penicillin began, he said when Mahatma Gandhi was living with his wife Kasturba Gandhi in a bungalow on Ahmednagar Road in Pune, Kasturba Gandhi was battling a disease that needed a specific type of medicine which was not being produced in India at that time.

    Later she died due to the illness.

    “When the then prime minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru visited Gandhi after that, the latter told Nehru about the non-availability of medicine in India. It was then that Nehru took a decision and the HA was formed,” he said.

    Pawar also shared how Tata’s vehicle manufacturing company was retained in Maharashtra and set up in Pimpri Chinchwad.

    “When we were in power, we tried to keep the industry afloat. We worked towards the decentralization of industries. The then chief minister Yashwantrao Chavan decided to go for decentralization of industries. Then industries started functioning in Thane and Pimpri Chinchwad,” Pawar said.

    “Chavan also met JRD Tata and requested him to set up the company in Pimpri Chinchwad instead of Jamshedpur. He personally met Tata and promised to extend all help to set up the company in Pimpri Chinchwad. The same happened with Bajaj, Telco and others…special efforts were taken by the government,” he said.

    Pawar said that as a Union agriculture minister for 10 years between 2004 and 2014, he and the UPA government worked to change the situation and India became an exporter of wheat.

    Earlier, India used to import rice, but now it is one of the topmost countries that exports it, he said.

    “We worked towards using our power for the betterment of the farmers who can solve the hunger issues, but now the BJP is doing exactly the opposite,” he said.

  • NCB has ‘malafide intentions’, making ‘selective leaks’: Maharashtra minister Nawab Malik

    By PTI

    MUMBAI: Against the backdrop of various raids conducted by the NCB, including on some high-profile people, Maharashtra minister and NCP spokesperson Nawab Malik on Thursday alleged that the anti-drugs agency has “malafide intentions” and is involved in “selective leaks” to frame people.

    Addressing a press conference, Malik also said that his son-in-law Sameer Khan, who was recently granted bail in a drugs case after nine months, will move the high court to seek quashing of charges levelled against him by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB).

    Khan was arrested by the NCB in January this year in an alleged drug case. He got bail last month.

    Apart from the recent drugs bust onboard a cruise liner off the Mumbai coast, that led to the arrest of Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan Khan, the NCB last year investigated a drug case linked to the death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput and several other matters related to narcotics involving high-profile people.

    Malik last week alleged that the NCB’s raid on the cruise ship off the Mumbai coast on October 2 was “fake”, and no narcotic drugs were found during it. On Wednesday, the minister alleged that the “NCB has malafide intentions and is involved in only selective leaks to frame people”.

    He also said that his security was beefed up after he started getting “threats” when he raised doubts over the NCB’s investigations. Referring to the bail order issued by an NDPS court in connection with the case involving his son-in-law Sameer Khan, Malik said there was “no prima facie evidence of a drug syndicate”.

    It is surprising that an agency like the NCB cannot differentiate between drugs which fall under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act and tobacco-related items, the NCP leader said. “It (NCB) said ganja was seized (in the case involving Sameer Khan), but there was none. I just had to make things clear today after the bail order, since the BJP was targeting me over my son-in-law when I raised issues about the NCB’s fake case of the cruise drug party,” the NCP leader said.

    Malik also claimed his family faced trauma and stigma due to the NCB.

  • Central agencies including Enforcement Directorate, CBI, NCB, being misused to target opposition: Sharad Pawar 

    The NCP, which shares power in Maharashtra with the Shiv Sena and Congress, had earlier said it will face the onslaught of central agencies on its leaders and workers will full vigour.

  • BJP targeting kin of Maharashtra ministers, never seen such ‘blatant misuse of power’: Sharad Pawar

    Express News Service

    MUMBAI: NCP chief Sharad Pawar on Wednesday alleged that since the BJP failed to topple the Maha Vikas Aghadi government in Maharashtra, it was targeting close relatives and associates of the ministers in the state government.

    Addressing a press conference, the veteran politician said that in his 56 years of career, he had never seen such “blatant misuse of power” by the central government.  His statement comes days after the Income Tax sleuths searched the properties of relatives of NCP leader and Deputy CM Ajit Pawar.

    “BJP has been trying to unstable Uddhav Thackeray-led government, but has failed in all its attempts. Therefore, as a new strategy, they are targeting the people who are close to or relatives of the ministers. The raid is not at Ajit Pawar but on the properties owned by his sisters and son. A similar thing happened with Congress minister Ashok Chavan and Shiv Sena minister Subhash Desai whose close associates and relatives were targetted by conducting raids,” Pawar said. 

    Pawar also took jibe at former CM Devendra Fadnavis for his statement that he still felt like being the CM. “It is a good thing that I couldn’t  feel so even though I was a four-time CM,” Pawar said.

    ‘Deputy CM’s sisters have no big assets’

    Pawar said the sisters of Ajit Pawar had nothing to do with politics. They were leading middle-class lives and did not own big properties but their houses were raided.

  • NCP chief Sharad Pawar decides not to succumb to pressure tactics of BJP amidst raids against ministers 

    Express News Service

    MUMBAI: In view of the barrage of summons and raids by the central agencies against the NCP ministers and leaders, the NCP chief Sharad Pawar called a meeting of his party leaders on Tuesday and decided not to succumb to the pressure of the BJP but to fight it out.

    The Income Tax department has been conducting raids at sugar factories and other properties linked to Dy CM Ajit Pawar, his son Parth Pawar and his sister in the last three days.

    Earlier, ex-home minister Anil Deshmukh’s premises in Nagpur and Mumbai were raided by CBI and IT department several times in connection with former Mumbai police commissioner Param Bir Singh’s explosive Rs 100 crore collection letter. Besides, other leaders including housing minister Jitendra Awhad and the NCP leader Eknath Khadse etc., have been also targeted by the central agencies.

    Nawab Malik, chief spokesperson of NCP, said in the meeting with NCP chief Sharad Pawar that it was decided not to be afraid of the inquiries of the central agencies but to face firmly. He said that the central agencies on the behest of the BJP are targeting their political opponents.

    “We will not succumb to the pressure tactics of the BJP through central agencies. BJP is out of power and they are very desperate to come back to power in Maharashtra, therefore they are using all tricks from the book to harass us. But BJP should understand that the agencies’ actions against the NCP and other leaders will not make much difference over the government in the state. In fact, such action with a vendetta is strengthening the Maha Vikas Aghadi government. We are more confident of surviving this government,” Nawab Malik said.

    He also said it is crystal clear that the BJP is misusing the central agencies to target their political opponents but it will yield little result to them. “We are firm and have decided to extend support to all our leaders who are facing the probe of the central agencies. We are also sure that such barrage of notices, summons and raids will boomerang to BJP as it happened when ED issued notice to the NCP president Sharad Pawar. That one notice of ED changed the political situations in Maharashtra,” said the senior NCP minister adding that the recent local body elections results shows that the people are backing Maha Vikas Aghadi, not the BJP.

  • Money laundering case: Court issues non-bailable warrant against NCP leader Eknath Khadse’s wife

    By PTI

    MUMBAI: A special court here on Tuesday rejected as not maintainable the pre-arrest bail plea of Mandakini Khadse, wife of NCP leader Eknath Khadse, and issued a non-bailable warrant against her in a money laundering case pertaining to the 2016 Pune land deal.

    Special judge H S Satbhai, hearing matters related to the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) cases, noted that he was issuing a non-bailable warrant against Mandakini Khadse considering her “conduct and disobedience” in not appearing before the court when summons was issued to her last month.

    The court also directed Eknath Khadse to appear before it on October 21.

    The court had summoned Khadse, his wife and other accused in the case after taking cognisance of the chargesheet filed in the case by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).

    Khadse had then sought exemption from appearance on grounds that he was ailing, while his wife filed an anticipatory bail plea.

    On Tuesday, the court dismissed the anticipatory bail plea as not maintainable.

    The court noted that despite being served summons, Mandakini Khadse chose not to appear on the last date of hearing (October 6), following which she was granted an exemption and asked to appear before the court on Tuesday.

    “The conduct of the accused No 3 (Mandakini Khadse) is noted. Today again she is absent. The medical certificate relied on by her shows general ailments of fever, body ache and weakness. This medical ground is not satisfactory to exempt her from appearance in court,” it said.

    “Considering her conduct and disobedience of the summons, it is not just to grant time for her appearance. She is wilfully avoiding to appear before the court. Her absence is intentional,” the court said.

    The court ordered for a non-bailable warrant to be issued against her and posted the matter for further hearing on October 21.

    “Considering the fact that accused No 1 (Eknath Khadse) underwent laser haemorrhoidectomy on October 7, his exemption from appearance in court is granted for today only. Considering the medical advice, the accused shall appear in court on October 21,” the court said.

    Apart from the Khadse couple, their son-in-law Girish Chaudhary is also named as an accused in the case.

    He was arrested in the case and is presently in judicial custody.

    The ED has alleged that Chaudhary and the Khadses had purchased a government land in Bhosari near Pune for Rs 3.75 crore when its actual cost was Rs 31.01 crore.

    The prosecution’s case is that Khadse misused his official position as the state’s Minister of Revenue to facilitate the transaction.

    Khadse had resigned in June 2016 following the controversy over the purchase of land.

    He quit the BJP in October 2020 and joined the NCP.

  • BJP leader’s brother-in-law among two let off by NCB after cruise ship raid, claims NCP

    By PTI

    MUMBAI: Stepping up its attack on the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), the NCP on Friday alleged that the anti-drug agency let off two persons after a raid on a cruise ship off Mumbai coast recently, with one of them being the brother-in-law of a “high-profile” BJP leader.

    Targeting NCB’s zonal director Sameer Wankhede, NCP spokesperson and Maharashtra minister Nawab Malik also raised questions on the conduct of the agency’s officials.

    “After the raid, NCB officer Sameer Wankhede said 8-10 people were held. How can an official who conducts an entire operation give an indefinite answer? If 10 people were held then why were two people let off. And of the two, one was brother-in-law of a high-profile BJP leader,” Malik alleged.

    ​ALSO READ | ‘Shameful politics’: Raveena Tandon’s cryptic post on Aryan Khan’s arrest in Mumbai cruise drugs bust

    The allegations by the Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) against the NCB, a central agency, comes a day after the I-T department raided the premises of commercial entities linked to its party leader and state Deputy Chief minister Ajit Pawar.

    Malik said he would address a press conference on Saturday to reveal the name of the BJP leader whose brother-in-law was let off by the NCB.

    He said the motive behind the I-T department’s raids on entities linked to Pawar was to malign him.

    On Wednesday, Malik had dubbed the NCB’s October 2 raid on the cruise ship as “fake” and alleged that no narcotic drugs were found during it.

    The NCB has so far arrested 18 people, including Aryan Khan, son of Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan, after allegedly seizing drugs from the Goa-bound ship on Saturday.

    Notably, Malik’s son-in-law Sameer Khan had been arrested by the NCB on January 13 in an alleged drug case.

    He got bail in September.

    The NCP shares power with the Shiv Sena and the Congress in the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government in the state.