Amid charges, Wankhede's wife seeks support from Maha CM

Kranti Redkar Wankhede, the wife of Narcotics Control Bureau's Mumbai zonal director Sameer Wankhede, wrote a letter to Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Thursday, seeking justice in the wake of the "attack on her family and her personal life.

She posted the letter on her Twitter handle and tagged it to the Maharashtra CMO.

Sameer Wankhede is in the eye of a political storm following allegations of extortion in the high-profile cruise drugs case in which actor Shah Rukh Khan's son Aryan Khan was arrested. The officer is facing the departmental vigilance probe.

State minister and Nationalist Congress Party leader Nawab Malik had levelled a string of allegations against the NCB official, including illegal phone tapping.

He had also alleged Sameer Wankhede was born as a Muslim, but forged documents, including a caste certificate, to show that he belonged to the Hindu SC category to get a job under quota after clearing the UPSC examination.

In her letter to the CM, the NCB official's wife, said, 'Being a Marathi person, I expect some justice from your side as my personal life is unnecessarily being dragged into a controversy. Had late Balasaheb Thackeray (father of Uddhav Thackeray) been alive today, he would not have tolerated such personal attack on a woman's dignity.'

'I see you as the torch-bearer of his teachings and leadership. The dignity of a woman has become a joke in the regime that draws inspiration from the tenure of 17th century king Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj,' she said.

Redkar, who is a Marathi actress, further said she is an artist and does not understand politics and is not interested in it.

'The personal attacks reflect the lowest level of politics. I trust you and feel that there will be no injustice against me or my family,' she said in her letter to the CM.

On Wednesday, she had said her husband was born as Hindu and he never changed his religion.

She had also contested the claim made by the Qazi, who performed the first marriage of Sameer Wankhede in 2006, that he was Muslim at the time of the 'nikah'.

Redkar, who married Sameer Wankhede in 2017, had also slammed Malik for playing 'low level' politics by making various allegations against her husband.

Later in the day, the NCB officer's wife, his sister Yasmeen and his father met BJP leader Kirit Somaiya.

Somaiya tweeted a photo with the three of them.

'I condemn the slanderous and dirty propaganda by Nawab Malik against the Wankhede family. They are disturbed,' he said.

'I strongly condemn such efforts by Malik,' Somaiya added.

An official on Thursday said that Yasmeen Wankhede has filed a police complaint in Mumbai seeking registration of an FIR against Nawab Malik for allegedly defaming her.

In the complaint, she alleged that Malik was trying to defame her and her family members.

An official from the Oshiwara police station said they received a written complaint from Yasmeen Wankhede last week, but no FIR has been registered so far.