Nawab Malik asks if Sameer Wankhede's 'sister-in-law is in drugs business'

Firing another missile, Nationalist Congress Party Minister Nawab Malik on Monday demanded to know whether Narcotics Control Bureau Zonal Director Sameer Wankhede's sister-in-law is in the drug business.

In a series of tweets along with 'proof', Malik said that one Harshada Dinanath Redkar is listed as 'respondent and advocate' in a 2008 case registered under the NDPS Act, in a Pune Court.

She is reportedly the sister of Marathi actress Kranti Dinanath Redkar, the second wife of Wankhede.

"Sameer Dawood Wankhede, is your sister-in-law Harshada Dinanath Redkar involved in the drug business? You must answer because her case is pending before the Pune Court. Here is the proof," Malik asked pointedly.

However, Wankhede brushed aside the latest allegations saying he had not entered the government service when the case was lodged in January 2008, and besides, he had married Kranti Redkar in 2017 and was not involved in any way with the case.

Posting screenshots of the e-court as the evidence, Malik asked Wankhede to explain who that woman is and what does the NCB officer have to do with her.

Following Malik's allegation, social media posts claimed that the woman -- said to be from Goregaon suburb in Mumbai -- was previously arrested in a case and jailed in Pune, again in 2008 in another case along with two other accused, and has now allegedly changed her identity.

The development came a day after Malik's sensational charge that an alleged 'quartet' in the NCB led by Wankhede had "trapped and abducted" Aryan Khan for ransom, and they are part of a 'private army' engaged in luring high-profile people and extorting money from them.

In a related development, Wankhede's father Dnyandev Wankhede has filed a defamation case against Malik in the Bombay High Court, seeking permanent orders to debar the NCP leader, his party members and others from targeting or tarnishing the (Wankhede) family's reputation in any manner.