Wankhede tapped phones, 26 raids of his fake: Malik

MUMBAI: A day after the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) initiated a vigilance probe against its zonal director (western region) Sameer Wankhede, NCP minister Nawab Malik on Tuesday stepped up his drive against him.
Malik claimed that he has received an anonymous letter providing specific details of 26 raids conducted by the NCB under the leadership of Wankhede at the instance of BJP and how he secured the posting in Mumbai. Malik also alleged that Wankhede hired two private persons to intercept the phones of leading politicians and film stars and that he had asked Mumbai police commissioner to probe into the call data record (CDR) of his daughter Nilofar.
The anonymous letter, Malik said, claimed that all the raids, including those conducted at the residence of Malik's son-in-law Samir Khan and on Cordelia cruise ship, were fake. "My office received the letter on Tuesday. I will hand it over to NCB director general S N Pradhan," he added.
Malik further said that he has confirmed information that two persons-one from Mumbai and the other from Thane-were directly involved in phone-tapping at Wankhede's instance. "At appropriate time, I will disclose the names of the two persons," he said. The NCP minister also claimed that Wankhede had sought the CDR of his daughter Nilofar, whose husband Samir was detained by NCB for drug possession. The court has granted Samir bail saying the seized item was tobacco and not ganja. "...I am told that Mumbai Police has already rejected his plea on legal grounds and told him that since she is not a criminal, it will not be possible to secure her CDR. In my opinion, Wankhede is exceeding his brief. I am in the process of initiating legal action against him," he said.
Iterating that Wankhede's caste certificate is forged, Malik claimed: "We have all authentic documents to establish that he was born into a Muslim family, but he forged his identity and sought a job in the central government as a Scheduled Caste candidate. As per law, Dalits who have converted to Islam do not get quota privilege. Wankhede has snatched the job opportunity of a Dalit person."
Malik has challenged Wankhede's father Dnyandev to produce his son's caste certificate. "Let the caste scrutiny committee verify his documents, then people will know the truth," he said.