Bombay HC to hear today defamation suit filed by Sameer Wankhede’s father against Nawab Malik
The Bombay high court will on Friday hear out the defamation suit filed by Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) zonal director Sameer Wankhede’s father, Dhyandev, against Maharashtra cabinet minister Nawab Malik in connection with a series of allegations raised by the latter in a sensational drugs bust case, which had high-profile figures like Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aaryan Khan implicated weeks ago.
The defamation suit was adjourned for hearing on November 12 by the high court earlier this week; it also asked Nawab Malik to file an additional affidavit on verification of the document annexed to Wankhede’s.
Dhyandev K Wankhede, the father of the NCB officer who was in charge of investigating the alleged drug nexus, filed a police complaint against the Maharashtra minister on Monday, pointing out that ‘false’ and ‘derogatory’ allegations regarding his family’s caste have been raised in an interview with the Sakal newspaper. The complaint was filed with the assistant commissioner of police (ACP) of the Oshiwara division in Mumbai.
“Not only that, on several occasions, while doing interaction with the print media as well as the electronic media, the said accused Nawab Malik has made derogatory statements and allegations against me and my family regarding our caste,” read the written complaint to the ACP. “That I have the footage/videos of said press/news events as well as concerning news articles. That I will produce the same as and when required by you while conducting the investigation of the present matter.”
Nawab Malik had publicly alleged that Sameer Wankhede was born a Muslim but later forged documents, including a caste certificate, to pass off as a Scheduled Caste (SC) person only to get recruitment under quota after clearing the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) exams.
A day ago, the high court directed Malik to file an affidavit to the effect that he had verified the information pertaining to Sameer Wankhede and his family, before publishing it on his Twitter handle, even as it said that Wankhede is an “officer” and that his actions can be scrutinised by “any member of the public”.
“Is it not your duty to verify the documents before posting?” the court asked Malik’s lawyer Atul Damle. “Have you verified the authenticity of the documents as a responsible citizen and spokesperson of a national party?”
Meanwhile, Wankhede’s father has also sought an ad-interim injunction order against Malik from making further remarks or statements in media. He has also asked that Malik delete pertinent articles, posts, and comments from digital and electronic media.