Ex-NCB officer Sameer Wankhede not Muslim: Caste panel gives him clean chit

Mumbai: Former Mumbai zonal director of the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) Sameer Wankhede, who was being probed for allegedly submitting a fake caste certificate for getting a government job, was given a clean chit by the caste scrutiny committee, an official said on Saturday.
The order was issued by the Social Justice Department of the Maharashtra government on Friday, an official said.
The order says that Wankhede, an Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer, was not a Muslim by birth and it has been proven that he belongs to Mahar caste, which is a Scheduled Caste (SC).
The issue of Wankhede’s caste was raised by former Maharashtra minister and NCP leader Nawab Malik. Applications were filed by the complainants, including political leader Manoj Sansare, Ashok Kamble and Sanjay Kamble, against Wankhede.
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The order says that it was not proven that Wankhede and his father Dnyandev Wankhede renounced Hinduism and duly converted to Islam.