Until now, ‘Damad Prem’ or love for the son-in-law in a political context called to mind the obsequious deference of the Congress party to Robert Vadra, the son-in-law of the party’s interim president Sonia Gandhi.
Just as Sonia Gandhi is heralded as ‘mother of the nation’ by Congress workers and leaders, her son-in-law Robert is regarded as the national son-in-law by slavish Congress supporters.
Vadra, for his part, has not managed to evade the public glare. He continues to remain an integral part of political discourse owing to the numerous controversies he is embroiled in, and also because of the Congress party’s penchant for characterising him as a perpetual victim of political vendetta.
Allegations of wrongdoing or corruption against Vadra is invariably branded by the Congress party as an attempt to malign the reputation of the Gandhi family. Scores of Congress leaders and supporters rush to the defence of Vadra, alleging that he is targeted for being the son-in-law of the Gandhis.
Nawab Malik’s leads a spirited attack against Sameer Wankhede, NCB officer responsible for arresting his son-in-law in a separate drugs case
However, NCP leader and Maharashtra minister Nawab Malik has taken this love for one’s son-in-law to an altogether different level. While Robert Vadra has no relevance with the ongoing probe into the drugs case, the obsession exhibited by Nawab Malik in getting his his son-in-law extricated from a drug case is comparable to the alacrity displayed by the Congress party and its supporters in taking up the cudgel for the Gandhi family’s son-in-law Robert Vadra.
In his efforts to cast aspersions on the integrity of Mumbai NCB’s Zonal director Sameer Wankhede, Malik has arguably gone beyond the usual political gimmicks. He has been frighteningly creepy about the officer’s personal life, sharing details of his private life that evidently have little connection with the drugs probe underway. Apparently, by hurling sundry allegations at Wankhede, Malik is hoping that some of them might stick and be responsible for his undoing.
Interestingly, Malik’s unhealthy interest in bringing the NCB officer down stems from the fact that it was Wankhede who had arrested his son-in-law Sameer Khan in a separate drugs case earlier in January 2021.
NCB had arrested Nawab Malik’s son-in-law after it found an online monetary transaction between Khan and one of the accused in a probe into the Bollywood-drug nexus. The transaction took place on Google Pay between Sameer Khan and Karan Sajnani, which the NCB believes was a payment for drug purchase. Accordingly, he was issued summons to appear before the NCB. After detailed questioning, the NCB had decided to put him under arrest. Khan had managed to get bail on September 27, after spending 8 months in jail.
While Khan is currently out on bail, he is still one of the accused in the drugs case. Therefore, it cannot be denied that Malik has a strong motive to lead a spirited campaign against Sameer Wankhede and NCB, perhaps in an attempt to weaken the case against his son-in-law and pave the way for his exoneration.
Malik goes frighteningly creepy as he steps up his campaign against Sameer Wankhede
As a part of his campaign against Sameer Wankhede, Malik today took to Twitter to share the picture of NCB officer Sameer Wankhede along with a woman whom he identified as Dr Shabana Qureshi, Wankhede’s first wife. Keeping aside the possibility of the fact that Malik may not have sought Ms Qureshi’s permission before sharing her pictures on social media, the post nonetheless illustrates Malik’s willingness to go to any extent to mount an attack against the NCB officer.
Photo of a Sweet Couple
— Nawab Malik نواب ملک नवाब मलिक (@nawabmalikncp) October 27, 2021
Sameer Dawood Wankhede and Dr. Shabana Qureshi pic.twitter.com/kcWAHgagQy
Malik had also shared a document which he claimed was the ‘Nikah Nama’ of Sameer Wankhede and Dr Shabana Qureshi. Once again, in what appears as his relentless pursuit to undermine the drugs case filed against his son-in-law, Malik showed little regard to individual privacy and shared a private document such as ‘Nikah Nama’ in public.
This is the ‘Nikah Nama’ of the first marriage of
— Nawab Malik نواب ملک नवाब मलिक (@nawabmalikncp) October 27, 2021
‘Sameer Dawood Wankhede’ with Dr. Shabana Quraishi pic.twitter.com/n72SxHyGxe
The NCP leader had earlier a picture of Sameer Wankhede and remarked “guess who”. Later, a journalist shared another picture and alleged that Ms Qureshi is Sameer Wankhede’s first wife, whom he reportedly married in 2006. By talking about his alleged first marriage, Malik wants to characterise Wankhede as a dishonest officer who has concealed details about his past.
Malik’s relentless attacks on Wankhede’s personal life and family had forced his wife Kranti Redkar to issue a statement, clarifying that Wankhede and his first wife had divorced in 2016 and after a while, the NCB officer had married her (Kranti). Redkar had also clarified that Wankhede’s father is Hindu but his mother was a Muslim. She added that there was no ‘confusion’ or no illegality in the officer’s personal life and the media should refrain from airing baseless assumptions against the family.
Today, Wankhede’s father had stated that Malik’s non-stop personal attacks against their family are putting the officer’s family in danger. He had also stated that Malik’s allegations against Sameer Wankhede are false.
#WATCH | I myself am a Dalit…all of us, my ancestors are Hindus… how can my son be Muslim. He (Nawab Malik) should understand this…: NCB officer Sameer Wankhede’s father Dnyandev Wankhede pic.twitter.com/2DEk5EClZT
— ANI (@ANI) October 27, 2021
Earlier yesterday, Malik shared a letter he claimed to have received from an unnamed NCB official. The letter said current Delhi Police Commissioner Rakesh Asthana instructed Sameer Wankhede and KPS Malhotra to frame Bollywood artists through any means necessary. The letter claims after filing the fake cases, Malhotra and Wankhede extorted crores of rupees and provided Asthana his share as well.
Here are the contents of the letter received by me from an unnamed NCB official.
— Nawab Malik نواب ملک नवाब मलिक (@nawabmalikncp) October 26, 2021
As a responsible citizen I will be forwarding this letter to DG Narcotics requesting him to include this letter in the investigation being conducted on Sameer Wankhede pic.twitter.com/SOClI3ntAn
The letter also alleged that Wankhede used a lawyer as a middleman to collect funds and that he has a team of trusted aides that help in planting evidence against his quarry. It says money and jewellery seized during raids is used for purchasing drugs to plant as evidence.
Anyone who refuses to follow Wankhede’s directives, the letter said, is sidelined and replaced by more docile officers. The letter claimed Arbaz Merchant’s friend Abdul had no drugs but the NCB planted it to have him arrested. The letter shared by Malik also cites various instances where people were allegedly framed by the NCB.
Intriguingly, the letter shared by Malik also asserted that his son-in-law Sameer Khan was framed in a ‘fake’ drugs case by the NCB. The letter said NCB falsely reported 200 Kgs of tobacco as cannabis to file a case against Sameer Khan and arrest him.
A day before posting the letter whose authenticity is under scanner, Malik had shared a document related to Sameer Wankhede’s birth to contend that he was a Muslim by birth and had forged documents to show himself from Scheduled Caste, to take benefit of reservation and enter the Indian Revenue Services in 2008.
Sameer Dawood Wankhede का यहां से शुरू हुआ फर्जीवाड़ा pic.twitter.com/rjdOkPs4T6
— Nawab Malik نواب ملک नवाब मलिक (@nawabmalikncp) October 25, 2021
NCB recovers drugs from cruise ship off the coast of Mumbai
After the raid on the cruise Ship rave party, NCB seized a huge amount of narcotics and detained 10 people. The ship was supposedly going from Mumbai to Goa. According to reports, every person present in that party had paid a entry fee of more than 80 thousand rupees. As per sources, Mumbai Zonal Director Sameer Wankhede and other NCB officials acted on an intelligence input and boarded the ship as normal passengers and carried out the operation.
Following the raid, there have been allegations that Wankhede is selectively targeting Aryan Khan. However, he said in a statement, “We are not targeting anyone at all. We have nothing against him. We have arrested more than 300 people in the last 10 months. Out of those, at the most, there would be about 4 to 5 known people. How can you say that we are targeting anyone? Most of those arrested in the last one year are hard-core, drug related criminals.”
