“Not Muslim By Birth”: Supreme Court Gives Clean Chit To Sameer Wankhede

Mumbai: The Cast Scrutiny Committee has cleared former NCB officer Sameer Wankhede in the caste certificate matter, putting an end to a year-long dispute.

The caste certificate that Wankhede possesses has also been upheld by the committee. The tribunal had taken down arguments from both sides and concluded that Wankhede was not a Muslim by birth in a 91-page ruling. The committee also came to the conclusion that Sameer Wankhede and his father Dyaneshwar Wankhede had not converted to Islam from Hinduism.

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According to the judgment, Sameer Wankhede and his father are members of the Hindu religion’s Mahar-37 Scheduled Caste.

Wankhede took to Twitter soon after the development and wrote, “Satyameva Jayate.”

सत्यमेव जयते 🇮🇳

— Sameer Wankhede (@swankhede_IRS) August 13, 2022

“All my life I have worked for the service of the propel, but what hurt me was the fact that my family and dead mother was also not spared,” the former NCB officer said.

The committee determined that Nawab Malik, a former cabinet minister for Maharastra and a prominent member of the NCP, and other complainants who had expressed concern about Sameer Wankhede’s caste certificate, including Manoj Sansare, Ashok Kamble, and Sanjay Kamble, had not provided sufficient evidence to support their claims.

When Wankhede oversaw the Mumbai Narcotic Control Bureau last year, the problem arose. Wankhede claimed that Malik, who was a cabinet minister at the time, brought up the subject of his caste certificate only after his team had detained Malik’s son-in-law Sameer Khan in connection with a narcotics case. After Khan’s release from prison in the second part of 2021, Malik began making these accusations. The controversy surrounding the accusations made in the 2021 Drug Cruise case, in which actor Shahrukh Khan’s son Aryan Khan was allegedly engaged, only served to amplify the anti-Wankhede rant.

Dyaneshwar Wankhede, a member of the Mahar community, was the father of Wankhede. Malik and others had made the claim that he had abandoned Hinduism and converted to Islam in order to marry his wife, a Muslim by birth. The accusations state that Wankhede was a Muslim by birth and had even wed a Muslim woman using Muslim traditions. Wankhede’s legal team, which included advocate Divakar Rai, provided a thorough response to the complaints when the caste scrutiny issued notice to Wankhede after receiving the complainants.

Salima Tadvi served as a member of the caste scrutiny committee, which was headed by Anita Meshram (Wankhede), while Sunita Mate served as member secretary.

Expressing disappointment at the order, advocate Nitin Satpute, who had appeared for Kamle, said, “Sameer Wankhede Caste is already challenged by me in High court, in Writ Petition No WPL/26957/2021, We had no much expectations from Caste Scrutiny Committee, but have faith in High Court.”