For the past one month, the news of Aryan Khan’s arrest has dominated media reports. After the 23-year-old, who is the son of Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan, was arrested by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) all details regarding his jail stay, his parents’ conditions, his lawyers’ strategies have been public knowledge.
However, as the case unfolded, a distinct sub-plot almost took over the narrative of the case and swayed public opinion not only about Aryan Khan but also about the Narcotics Control Bureau’s Mumbai zonal director, Sameer Wankhede who was in charge of the investigation at the time.
The sub-plot was skilfully constructed by Nawab Malik, a leader of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and a Maharashtra’s Minority Welfare Minister, who has now become the focal point of national limelight, following his comments on the Aryan Khan case.
While Malik started with tweets after Aryan Khan’s arrest, alleging foul play in the case, as media rushed to ask more questions, he called the NCB cruise raid (during which Khan was arrested), to be fake. He further questioned the paanch (independent witnesses who have to be present during any police raid) selected by NCB for the cruise raid and claimed that those witnesses were in cahoots with NCB.
While he said that one of the witnesses, Fletcher Patel was Wankhede’s family friend, he explained that another paanch, Manish Bhanushali is an office-bearer of the BJP, while the third witness KC Gosavi was a criminal.
This, however, was only Malik warming up. As Aryan Khan’s bail plea was repeatedly denied, and the star kid continued to stay in jail, Malik launched a slew of personal attacks against Wankhede. He accused Wankhede of extortion and releasing purported photos of Yasmeen Wankhede, who is Wankhede’s sister.
Hinting at a deeper link between Sameer Wankhede and Bollywood, Malik had said, “During the pandemic, the entire film industry was in the Maldives. Sameer Wankhede must clarify what he and his family members were doing there at that time. He should clarify whether he was in Dubai,” Malik said.
Following the allegations, NCB had published a press release with the factual position on the information. Ashok Mutha Jain, NCB DDG told news agency ANI that after joining NCB, there was no application from him (Wankhede) for going to Dubai. The zonal director had sought permission for going to the Maldives with his family.
Malik further alleged that Wankhede was born as a Muslim, but forged documents, including a caste certificate, to show that he belonged to the Hindu SC category to get a job under quota after clearing the UPSC examination. To corroborate his point, Malik tweeted a photo that showed the agency officer with his first wife and a Nikahnama (marriage certificate).
In 2017, Wankhede married Marathi actress Kranti Redkar. Reacting to the ‘nikah’ controversy, Redkar said that the Nikahnama is correct, but Wankhede never changed his religion.
“Yes, there is a nikahnama… but Sameer never changed his name or religion…he got the nikahnama made at the request of his mother who is no more. The pic released by Nawab Malik is wrong…it defames us…we have filed a case against it at Oshiwara police station. Nawab Malik is doing this so that the case against his son-in-law is dropped,” Redkar said.
Wankhede, who is in the eye of a political storm following allegations of extortion made by another witness in the Aryan Khan case is also being investigated by his department. Under such circumstances, a new attack by Malik on his character, on a regular basis, can cost the NCB officer a lot in terms of public opinion.
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