Political News: Sameer Wankhede took pvt help to tap phones: Nawab Malik

Mumbai: NCB zonal director Sameer Wankhede was illegally tapping phone calls of people in Mumbai, Maharashtra minister for skill development Nawab Malik has alleged, continuing with his series of charges against the officer. Wankhede sought the help of two private people to tap phones illegally, Malik alleged on Tuesday.

“I have come to know that phone calls are being tapped in the state through two people. One of the men who has been helping him is in Mumbai and the other in Thane. They tap phones of film stars and politicians. I have details of these people and will file a complaint with the Mumbai police commissioner soon,” the minister said.

Malik posted a letter on twitter allegedly sent to him by an NCB official in Mumbai. The letter alleged that Wankhede framed people in the film industry and listed 26 cases where people were wrongly accused. Wankhede, along with certain officials, planted drugs of commercial quantity to frame people and he formed a special squad in NCB to foist fake cases, the letter alleged. Malik said that he would ask NCB to investigate the letter during its vigilance inquiry ordered against Wankhede.

Wankhede was away in Delhi, but his wife Kranti Redkar and sister Yasmeen Wankhede refuted the allegations at a news conference later. A paid lobby was working against Wankhede to ensure that he did not remain in the NCB, they alleged. “There is a media trial happening. My husband has an honest reputation for the last 15 years. Lots of people want Sameer ji to be shifted from the job as they have been inconvenienced due to my husband’s actions,” Redkar alleged. It was wrong to say that Wankhede was only going after actors. Cases against film personalities accounted only for 3% of total cases Wankhede handled, she said and claimed she received death threats on social media from ‘PR machinery’.

Malik later met home minister Dilip Walse Patil and chief minister Uddhav Thackeray, separately.