Now, Nawab Malik goes after Sameer Wankhede’s wardrobe!

Sameer Wankhede at NCB office in Ballard Estate on Tuesday. Pic/Atul Kamble

NCB Zonal Director Sameer Wankhede uses luxurious brands that cost lakhs and the money comes through extortion, state minister Nawab Malik alleged on Tuesday, continuing his tirade against the anti-drugs officer. He said the officer wears Louis Vuitton shoes that cost Rs 2 lakh a pair. The minister also levelled allegations against the officer's sister. Wankhede has rejected the charges.

Malik said Wankhede makes money by framing people in NDPS cases. The minister said Wankhede wears Burberry shirts that cost Rs 70,000 apiece, while his belt is worth Rs 1 lakh. The officer's T-shirts cost Rs 30,000 each and he wears watches worth Rs 25-30 lakh, said Malik. "He claims that he is an honest officer? My question is from where he is getting the money to afford such luxury brands. Can a government servant afford these? In the last few days, I have noticed that he never repeats the same clothes. He spends crores of rupees in his daily wears," said Malik in a press conference.

Nawab Malik

The minister continued, "He has a private army to extort money. In fact, his sister Yasmeen Wankhede also helps him in that business." Malik shared what he claimed was a WhatsApp exchange between Yasmeen and an alleged drug peddler last November, saying that she shared her visiting card and office location with the "peddler" and met him too. "Screenshots of the WhatsApp chat between Yasmeen Dawood Wankhede and a drug peddler. The question arises, is this morally, ethically and legally right?" said Malik in a tweet.

The officer said the drug mafia was behind the episode. "The chat is with a peddler called Salman who had approached my sister, a lawyer. As she doesn't take NDPS cases, she sent him back. It was a trap by Salman via a middleman, he got arrested and is in jail. The allegations are false," Wankhede told the press.

Later, the officer's wife Kranti Redkar tweeted, "All of Sameer's properties are made by his mother when she was alive. definitely nt worth 50 n 100 cr. Sameer owns them since 15 yrs of age onwards, all documents r produced 2 the government every yr as per rules for civil servants. They r not BENAMI. Sawan ke andhe ko haryali dikhti hai."

Nawab Malik has accused Wankhede of wearing expensive brands

Yasmeen Wankhede said the minister should approach the court if he really has anything against them. "We are not accountable to respond to his wild allegations made in a press conference but if a court asks, we will prove that his allegations are baseless and these have been made only to mentally harass us," said Yasmeen, adding that they live in a joint family and they buy clothes from Lokhandwala market.

She said Malik has been calling up their extended family and "has been trying to influence them to provide him wrong pieces of evidence to falsely implicate the Wankhede family." She said, "So, one can imagine how low he has stooped to."

Yasmeen said she has submitted a complaint to the police against the minister. "Nawab Malik has been stalking me and I have submitted a complaint to Oshiwara police. It was transferred to Amboli police station where my statement has been recorded by API Vishal Gaikwad but the case is yet to be registered…" she said, adding, "I have also written to the Women Commission as my name is being defamed every day by Malik who organises press conferences with a vested interest."