Nawab Malik’s fake notes allegations baseless, says Sameer Wankhede | Mumbai news

Wankhede said the face value of the seized counterfeit banknotes was approximate ₹10 lakh and not ₹14.56 crore as claimed by the NCP senior leader.

Sameer Wankhede, the Zone Director of the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) in Mumbai, on Wednesday denied claims by Maharashtra Minister Nawab Malik that counterfeit banknotes with a face value of over ₹14 crore were seized in a raid in 2017 and former Prime Minister Devendra Fadnavis helped quell the matter.

Wankhede said the face value of the seized counterfeit banknotes was approximate ₹10 lakh and not ₹14.56 crore, as claimed by the leading leader of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP). Three people were also arrested in the case.

Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) officials had reached out to the National Investigation Agency (NIA) to take the case, but they did not, the NCB official said.

“Nawab Malik’s allegations are baseless. The face value of the counterfeit banknotes seized in 2017 was approx. ₹10 lakh not around 14 crore. Three people were arrested. At that point, the DRI had contacted the NIA to investigate the matter, but the NIA did not take the case, ”Wankhede was quoted as saying by the ANI news agency.

His response came shortly after Malik spoke at a press conference where he said he was fighting a man who slandered innocent people in fake cases, but Fadnavis tried to defend him. “He’s not only distracting my problem, he’s also trying to defend an officer,” said the NCP leader.

Malik has made a number of serious charges against Wankhede since the NCB raided a cruise in Goa and arrested the son of Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan, Aryan, among others. Among other charges, the NCP leader said Wankhede was involved in a blackmail attempt in the case and also fraudulently used the box card to get his job.

A vigilance investigation into the extortion allegations is ongoing and a team from the NCB unit in Delhi has taken on six cases, including one involving Malik’s son-in-law Sameer Khan.

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