Forgery case against Sameer Wankhede over bar licence
Thane (PTI): Thane police have registered an FIR against Narcotics Control Bureau's former Mumbai zonal director Sameer Wankhede for alleged forgery in connection with a licence which he had procured for a bar and hotel owned by him in Navi Mumbai, an official said on Sunday.
District Collector Rajesh Narvekar had recently cancelled the licence, claiming it was obtained by misrepresentation and fraud.
An FIR was registered against Wankhede on Saturday night at Kopri police station here for the offence of forgery following a complaint by state Excise officials, Thane Deputy Commissioner of Police (Zone V) Dr Vinaykumar Rathod said.
Notably, Maharashtra cabinet minister Nawab Malik in November last year claimed Wankhede owned a permit room and bar at Vashi in Navi Mumbai, the licence for which was obtained in 1997 when he was a minor, and that this was illegal.
Malik had also said that despite being in a government job, Wankhede held a licence to operate the permit room which was against service rules. Wankhede had then denied the minister's claims.
The state Excise department had subsequently issued a notice to Wankhede in connection with the bar licence obtained by him.
Following his response and examination of the matter, the district collector recently concluded that Wankhede had obtained the licence on October 27,1997, when he was less than 18 years old, as against the permissible age of 21, an official earlier said.
Malik had levelled a series of allegations against Wankhede, after the latter led a raid on a cruise ship in October last year and claimed to have seized drugs onboard. Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan's son Aryan Khan and some others were accused in the drugs-on-cruise case.
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Congress using hijab issue to pacify minority anger, alleges Karnataka LoP R Ashoka
Bengaluru: Leader of Opposition in the Assembly R. Ashoka has accused the Congress government of using the hijab issue to placate what he described as discontent among minority voters after the Davanagere by-election.
In a post on X on Wednesday, Ashoka alleged that the state government, instead of addressing issues such as price rise, corruption, farmers’ distress and law and order, was attempting to retain its minority vote base by reviving the hijab issue.
Referring to the 2022 dress code introduced by the BJP government, which prohibited hijab in schools and colleges, Ashoka said the Karnataka High Court had upheld the policy and emphasised the importance of discipline in educational institutions.
He questioned the Congress government’s move to revisit the issue and asked whether setting aside the court-backed policy to benefit one community could be described as secularism.
Ashoka further alleged that while the government was willing to permit hijab, it continued to prohibit saffron shawls.
He accused the government of dividing students on religious lines rather than treating schools and colleges as spaces of equality.
Drawing a comparison with Mamata Banerjee’s government in West Bengal, Ashoka claimed that excessive appeasement politics had harmed the state and warned that the Congress in Karnataka could face a similar political response.
He said voters in Karnataka would teach the Congress a lesson for what he termed “vote-bank politics” and for compromising constitutional and judicial principles.
