Sameer Wankhede gets clean chit in caste certificate row

Sameer Wankhede had courted controversy in a drug bust case last year, in which Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan was arrested

Indian Revenue Service officer Sameer Wankhede, who faced charges of securing a job on a fake scheduled caste (SC) certificate, has been exonerated by the Mumbai City District Caste Scrutiny Committee.

Wankhede, who is officer of the 2008 batch, and served as zonal director of Narcotics Control Bureau, had courted controversy in a drug bust case last year, in which Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan's son Aryan was arrested and later freed without pressing any charges. Wankhede was removed from the probe and later, transferred to Chennai after the Home Ministry recommended action against him for shoddy investigations in the case.

The alleged fake SC certificate issue came to light last year, following a complaint filed by NCP leader Nawab Malik, who was then state minister, Manoj Sansare (of the RPI), Ashok Kamble and Sanjay Kamble. They had accused that the officer was a Muslim by birth - Wakhede's father Dyandev had converted to Islam before marrying - and that he had used a fake caste certificate to get the government job.

Dismissing the complaints, the committee inferred that Wankhede and forefathers belonged to the Hindu Mahar-37 caste, which is eligible for social reservation in the SC quota. It further stated that the caste certificate was issued by a competent authority. Wankhede's wife Kranti Redekar welcomed the decision. "Only truth prevails," she tweeted.

Petitioner Kamble's advocate Nitin Satpute said, "Wankhede's caste certificate has already been challenged in the Bombay High Court by me. We didn't have expectations from the scrutiny committee, but have faith in the high court."