Mumbai Feb 22 PTI The Bombay High Court on Tuesday expressed anger over how a petition filed the previous day by NCBs former Mumbai zonal director Sameer Wankhede was listed for hearing without the court permitting the same A division bench of Justices Gautam Patel and Madhav Jamdar refused to grant hearing on the petition saying there was no urgency Wankhede a 2008 batch IRS officer filed a petition on Monday challenging an order passed by the Thane Excise Collector cancelling the liquor license of his restaurant and bar in Navi Mumbai and sought restoration of the cancelled license How come this petition is listed today when it was not mentioned before us on Monday We have not allowed it Justice Patel said Wankhedes advocate Veena Thadani told the court that they were waiting to mention the matter on Monday but the court staff said it would be listed on Tuesday The bench then warned the court staff from doing so A poor person files a petition and their matter is never taken up for hearing and when an influential person files a petition their plea is listed for hearing immediately Justice Jamdar said What is the grave urgency What heavens will fall the bench asked Advocate Feroze Bharucha appearing for Maharashtra cabinet minister Nawab Malik who is a respondent in the case sought a copy of the petition and time to respond to the same There are allegations and false statements made against the minister Bharucha said The court then said it was not going to grant any urgent hearing to the petition and that it will be taken up for hearing in due course Just because you two Wankhede and Malik are having a war of words in the media we have to grant urgent hearing Justice Patel asked Wankhede in the petition claimed that actions initiated against him were vindictive as he had arrested Maliks son-in-law in a drugs case when he was heading the Mumbai Narcotics Control Bureau NCB unit He further claimed that the action was taken against him by the state Excise Department and the police under political pressure As per the petition the license was granted in October 1997 and was renewed time and again till 2021 After my client Wankhede arrested minister Nawab Maliks son-in-law in a drugs case the minister wrote a letter in November 2021 to the Thane Excise Collector raising questions on the license Wankhedes advocate Vishal Thadani said Pursuant to the letter an inquiry was initiated and three show-cause notices were issued to Wankhede A hearing was given and the license was then cancelled Hence he Wankhede has moved the high court challenging the cancellation and to seek restoration of the license Thadani said Wankhede had appealed to the state Excise Commissioner who apparently orally refused to stay the order In his petition Wankhede said he cannot be blamed for not disclosing his age since the rules do not prescribe the age while applying for the FL III foreign liquor license and the application form does not provide for disclosure of the applicants age According to Wankhedes plea FL III licence is granted for one year at a time and is an annual contract between the individual and the state and hence the licence granted in 1997 came to an end in 1998 Wankhede in his plea said he turned 18 on December 14 1997 and thereafter the licence has been renewed for 23 years every year PTI SP GK GK

Mumbai Jan 20 PTI The father of former Narcotics Control Bureau NCB Mumbai zonal director Sameer Wankhede has filed a contempt petition in the Bombay High Court against Maharashtra minister Nawab Malik alleging a breach of an undertaking given by himIn his contempt plea filed on Wednesday Dnyandev Wankhede has alleged the NCP leader had committed a wilful breach of his undertaking given to the high court in December last year of not making or posting any defamatory comments against the family of the IRS officerDnyandev Wankhede had filed a suit in the HC last year seeking to restrain Malik from making any public comments or social media posts that were defamatory and derogatory to him his son Sameer Wankhede or their familyDuring previous hearings on the suit Malik had undertaken before the HC to not make any such statements against the Wankhedes until further hearing in the courtThe state minister had clarified at the time that such an undertaking did not restrain him from making comments on a public servants including Sameer Wankhedes discharge of official dutiesIn his contempt plea Dnyandev Wankhede claimed that Malik had breached his undertaking and made objectionable comments as recently as January 2 and 3 this year The HC is yet to assign a date to hear the contempt petitionLast year Malik had made a series of allegations against Sameer Wankhede from forging documents to get a government job to lying about his religion to carrying out bogus drug raidsThe IRS officer had denied all the allegationsSameer Wankhedes tenure with the NCB ended in late December and he was sent back to his parent organisation DRI PTI AYA RSY RSY

Mumbai Dec 18 PTI Yasmeen Wankhede sister of Narcotics Control Bureau zonal director Sameer Wankhede on Saturday filed a criminal defamation and stalking complaint against Maharashtra minister and NCP leader Nawab Malik accusing him of making baseless and defamatory allegations against her The criminal complaint filed before the Andheri metropolitan magistrate court has sought action against Malik under IPC sections 354D stalking 499 defamation and 509 word gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman In her complaint Yasmeen Wankhede has claimed she has recently come across tweets and televised interviews wherein Malik has made defamatory and scandalous unfounded allegations against her knowing fully well the said allegations were absolutely untrue Yasmeens complaint further said her brother Sameer Wankhede is actively involved in busting drug rackets and one such case being handled by him was involving Maliks son-in-law Sameer Khan who is currently out on bail Out of personal grudge and vengeance held against the complainants brother the accused as a counter measure started making false defamatory and baseless allegations against the complainant and her family the complaint claims PTI AVI BNM BNM BNM

Mumbai Oct 27 PTI The NCBs Deputy Director General DDG-northern region Gyaneshwar Singh on Wednesday said they have started recording the statement of the agencys Mumbai zonal director Sameer Wankhede in connection with the departmental vigilance probe into allegations of extortion in the drugs-on-cruise case A five-member vigilance probe team which landed in Mumbai in the morning has started its probe and collected some documents and recordings from the Narcotic Control Bureaus NCB office at Ballard Estate in south Mumbai DDG Singh who is heading the departmental vigilance probe into allegations of extortion told media persons We have started recording the statement of Wankhede It is a sensitive inquiry and it is not possible to share real-time information related to the probe he said We have started our investigation and are calling witnesses to record their statements he added Earlier Gyaneshwar Singh reached the NCBs office here at 1245 pm The NCB has ordered a vigilance inquiry into the claims made by a witness Prabhakar Sail in the cruise drugs case of an extortion bid of Rs 25 crore by some agency officials including its Mumbai zonal director Sameer Wankhede to let off Aryan Khan the son of Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan The inquiry is being conducted by Gyaneshwar Singh who is also the chief vigilance officer of the federal anti-narcotics agency A large number of media persons were present outside the NCBs office when Singh arrived Wankhede who is leading the probe in the cruise drugs case visited the NCBs headquarters in New Delhi on Tuesday and spent over two hours Sources earlier said the inquiry will also look at the aspect of K P Gosavi another NCB independent witness in the case being in close proximity of Aryan Khan after the raids and the procedures followed by the sleuths while entrusting custody of all the accused arrested on October 3 from the international cruise terminal in Mumbai Photos and videos of Gosavi with Aryan Khan have gone viral on social media and other news platforms The role of all the officers and witnesses involved in the case will be probed and it will be recorded if they followed the NCB manual and procedures mentioned in the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances NDPS Act during such operations they said Wankhede on Sunday wrote to Mumbai Police commissioner Hemant Nagrale seeking protection from likely legal action being planned against him by unknown persons to falsely frame him concerning an alleged vigilance-related issue On Monday he failed to get any relief related to an affidavit on the sensational extortion claims made by Sail with a special court saying it cannot pass a blanket order barring courts from taking cognisance of the document PTI DC GK GK

Mumbai Oct 27 PTI The NCBs Deputy Director General DDG-northern region Gyaneshwar Singh on Wednesday said they have started recording the statement of the agencys Mumbai zonal director Sameer Wankhede in connection with the departmental vigilance probe into allegations of extortion in the drugs-on-cruise case A five-member vigilance probe team which landed in Mumbai in the morning has started its probe and collected some documents and recordings from the Narcotic Control Bureaus NCB office at Ballard Estate in south Mumbai DDG Singh who is heading the departmental vigilance probe into allegations of extortion told media persons All the material witnesses in the probe will be called to record their statements I will not take name of any individual Singh said However to queries from reporters the official later said The statement of Wankhede is being recordedit is a sensitive inquiry and it is not possible to share real-time information related to the probe and we will not be able to share all the details We have started our investigation and are calling witnesses to record their statements Singh told reporters at the NCBs Mumbai zonal office We will definitely speak to Wankhede in connection with the inquiry and others also he added Asked if Wankhede will continue to probe the cruise drugs seizure case Singh said he will not make any comments related to the investigation in that case as he is not directly connected to it The official said he is in Mumbai for a vigilance inquiry The NCB has ordered a vigilance inquiry into the claims made by a witness Prabhakar Sail in the cruise drugs case of an extortion bid of Rs 25 crore by some agency officials including its Mumbai zonal director Sameer Wankhede to let off Aryan Khan the son of Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan The inquiry is being conducted by Gyaneshwar Singh who is also the chief vigilance officer of the federal anti-narcotics agency A large number of media persons were present outside the NCBs office when Singh arrivedWankhede who is leading the probe in the cruise drugs case visited the NCBs headquarters in New Delhi on Tuesday and spent over two hours Sources earlier said the inquiry will also look at the aspect of K P Gosavi another NCB independent witness in the case being in close proximity of Aryan Khan after the raids and the procedures followed by the sleuths while entrusting custody of all the accused arrested on October 3 from the international cruise terminal in Mumbai Photos and videos of Gosavi with Aryan Khan have gone viral on social media and other news platforms The role of all the officers and witnesses involved in the case will be probed and it will be recorded if they followed the NCB manual and procedures mentioned in the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances NDPS Act during such operations they said Wankhede on Sunday wrote to Mumbai Police commissioner Hemant Nagrale seeking protection from likely legal action being planned against him by unknown persons to falsely frame him concerning an alleged vigilance-related issue On Monday he failed to get any relief related to an affidavit on the sensational extortion claims made by Sail with a special court saying it cannot pass a blanket order barring courts from taking cognisance of the document PTI DC GK GK