Panel gives clean chit to Wankhede in fake caste papers claim

The three-member committee observed that he is not a Muslim by birth, and determined that he belonged to the Mahar caste, which is a Scheduled Caste. “It is not proved that Sameer and his father Dnyandev Wankhede renounced Hinduism and duly converted to Islam,” read the order.

The order further read, “The complaints filed by Manoj Sansare, Ashok Kamble, Sanjay Kamble and Nawab Malik regarding Wankhede’s caste claim/caste certificate/religion are not substantiated and their complaint is being rejected as it lacks facts.”

Reacting to the order, Wankhede said, “I have tremendous faith in the judiciary, the caste scrutinising committee and the government of Maharashtra… Truth prevails.”

Malik, who was arrested in a money laundering case earlier this year, had alleged that Wankhede had forged his caste certificate and other documents to secure a job under the SC quota after clearing the civil services examination. An inquiry into Wankhede’s caste certificate was set up after activists Manoj Sansare and Ashok Kamble filed a complaint against Wankhede on November 3, 2021.

This was after Wankhede led the probe in the Cordelia cruise ship drug bust case of October 2020, in which actor Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan Khan was arrested. Aryan was later released on bail by the Bombay High Court, which observed that there was “hardly any positive evidence” to show a conspiracy between the accused as alleged by the NCB.

In May this year, an NCB SIT discharged Aryan in the case while the Union Ministry of Home Affairs initiated a probe against Wankhede for “shoddy investigation”. Wankhede was subsequently transferred in May to the DG Taxpayer Service Directorate in Chennai.

Malik had claimed that Wankhede is a Muslim by birth, and that his father’s name was Dawood, not Dnyandev. Wankhede had denied the claims.

The Mumbai District Caste Certificate Scrutiny Committee, during its investigation, had issued a showcause notice to Wankhede on April 29. The notice stated that “considering complaints, documents, etc, it proves that petitioner belongs to Muslim caste and follows Muslim religion”. It had asked why it couldn’t confiscate and cancel his caste certificate dated March 5, 2008, which said that he belonged to the “Mahar community”.

Wankhede had then approached the Bombay High Court challenging the showcause notice, calling it “illegal, arbitrary and against the provisions of law”.

In his defence before the High Court, Wankhede had said that his mother is a Muslim, and that at the time of his birth, without his father’s consent, the name Dawood K Wankhede was incorrectly provided as his father’s name to the hospital. Also, “Muslim” was incorrectly recorded in his birth certificate against the category of “race, caste or nationality”. He added that his school records also incorrectly mentioned “Muslim” from 1985 to 1989, following which the records were corrected.

During the course of the inquiry, an official said that a caste vigilance team was appointed and it had visited his place of origin in Maharashtra’s Washim district to check the background of his family.

“We had recorded the statement of around 10 people, including his uncle, other relatives, the sarpanch of the village and police patils, who confirmed that he belonged to the Schedule Caste community,” the official said.