Sameer Wankhede, the Narcotics Control Bureau’s (NCB) Mumbai zonal director, on Wednesday refuted Maharashtra minister Nawab Malik’s allegations that counterfeit notes worth face value of over ₹14 crore were seized during a raid in 2017 and former chief minister Devendra Fadnavis had helped suppress the matter.
Wankhede said the face value of the seized counterfeit notes was about ₹10 lakh and not ₹14.56 crore as claimed by the senior Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader. Also, three persons were arrested in the case.
Officials of the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) had approached the National Investigation Agency (NIA) to take over the case, but the latter did not do so, the NCB officer further said.
“Nawab Malik’s allegations are baseless. Face value of counterfeit notes seized in 2017 was around ₹10 lakh not around 14 crore. Three persons were arrested in the matter. At that time, the DRI had approached the NIA to probe the matter, but the NIA did not take over the case,” Wankhede was quoted as saying by news agency.
His response came soon after Malik addressed a press conference stating he was fighting against a man who is framing innocent people in fake cases, but Fadnavis was trying to defend him. “He is not only diverting my issue, but also trying to defend one officer,” the NCP leader said.
Malik has levelled a number of serious allegations against Wankhede ever since the NCB raided a Goa-bound cruise and arrested among others Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan in the case. Among other charges, the NCP leader has said Wankhede was involved in an extortion attempt in the case and had also fraudulently used the caste card to obtain his job.
A vigilance probe is underway against the extortion allegations and a team from the NCB’s Delhi unit has taken over six cases, including one in which Malik’s son-in-law Sameer Khan is an accused.