Sameer Wankhede from SC community: Caste panel

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New Delhi, August 13

Former Mumbai zonal director of the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) Sameer Wankhede, who was being probed for allegedly submitting a fake caste certificate for getting a government job, has been given a clean chit by the caste scrutiny committee. It says Wankhede belongs to the Scheduled Caste (SC) community and is not Muslim.

Agency officials said the committee had found that Wankhede, an Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer, was not Muslim by birth and belonged to the Mahar caste, which is an SC. Following the findings of the committee, an order was issued by the Social Justice Department of the Maharashtra Government on Friday, which stated there was no proof that Wankhede and his father Dnyandev Wankhede renounced Hinduism and duly converted to Islam.

The controversy around Wankhede’s caste was brought to light by former Maharashtra minister and NCP leader Nawab Malik.