The central government, in its typical sledgehammer style, has unleashed the might of its investigative agencies like the Enforcement Directorate against NCP and Shiv Sena leaders.
A special court here which granted bail to Maharashtra minister Nawab Malik's son-in-law Sameer Khan has observed that there was no evidence to establish that Khan was involved in drug trafficking.
Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari on Thursday left the Vidhan Bhavan premises without completing his address to the joint session of the state legislature amid slogan-shouting by legislators.
NCB zonal director Sameer Wankhede should be suspended following the court's findings, he said.
'I had performed the 'nikah' of Sameer Wankhede and Shabana Qureshi. Her father had approached me to perform the marriage in the Lokhandwala complex area of Mumbai. The groom's name was Sameer Dawood Wankhede who married Shabana Qureshi'
At 1,180 cases, 2021-2022 reported the highest cases registered -- 4x higher than a decade ago.
Maharashtra minister and Nationalist Congress Party leader Nawab Malik on Saturday claimed that some unidentified persons tried to conduct a recce of his residence in Mumbai and also tried to gather information about himself and his family members.
Saying that the constitutional right to vote is not absolute, the Bombay high court on Friday rejected petitions filed by Nationalist Congress Party leaders Nawab Malik and Anil Deshmukh seeking temporary release from prison for casting ballot in the June 20 Maharashtra Legislative Council election.
NCP leader Nawab Malik had levelled a string of allegations against the NCB official, including illegal phone tapping.
An official from the NCB said Wankhede was not even in service when the alleged case took place.
The Narcotics Control Bureau's former zonal director Sameer Wankhede has approached the Bombay high court challenging a notice issued to him by a caste certificate scrutiny committee, asking him to show cause as to why his caste certificate should not be confiscated.
Nationalist Congress Party leader Praful Patel has claimed 51 out of the 53 party MLAs had told NCP chief Sharad Pawar that a possibility of joining hands with the Bharatiya Janata Party should be explored after the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government in Maharashtra collapsed last year.
Wankhede is facing the vigilance probe by NCB after an independent witness in the drugs-on-cruise case, in which Aryan Khan is one of the accused, claimed of overhearing a discussion of a Rs 25 crore pay-off, including Rs 8 crore for Sameer Wankhede.
Prima facie, there was evidence to indicate that there was a 'conspiracy' between Hasina Parkar (Ibrahim's sister), Salim Patel (alleged associate of Ibrahim) and Malik to grab the land owned by Munira Plumber and her mother Mariyum Goawala, said R N Rokade, special judge for cases under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
'Your faith in the system, and in the fact that you are a citizen of this country and have rights, starts eroding.'
Malik said that there has been no such talk in the party or with other parties.
Speaking to reporters in Thane, Pawar accused the Narendra Modi government of failing to fulfil any of the promises made by it since 2014 including bringing 'acche din, connecting villages through the internet, and providing toilets, water, and power to every household'.
He sought to nix speculation that the Congress and the Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray were working on a 'Plan B' to contest the 2024 Lok Sabha polls without his faction of the Nationalist Congress Party.
Pawar, 80, had undergone an emergency endoscopy for the removal of a stone from his bile duct at the Breach Candy hospital on March 30, a doctor had said.
Bhim Army leader Ashok Kamble filed the complaint against Wankhede for allegedly forging documents.
A team of tax department officials is undertaking the raids against Jadhav, also the chairman of the BMC standing committee, since early morning, they said.
Shelar also claimed that the MVA govt was obstructing the Centre's strong actions to tackle the drug menace in the country.
Pawar underwent an emergency endoscopy for the removal of a stone from his bile duct on March 30 at the Breach Candy Hospital.
Narcotics Control Bureau Mumbai Zonal Director Sameer Wankhede, who has been accused by Maharashtra Minister Nawab Malik of securing his government job on the basis of a fake caste certificate, met National Commission for Scheduled Castes Chairman Vijay Sampla with his original caste papers.
Fadnavis recently said the previous MVA government had given a target to then Mumbai police commissioner Sanjay Pandey to put me in jail, but the police officer could not succeed as he had done nothing wrong.
Leader of Opposition in the assembly Ajit Pawar (NCP) and fellow NCP leader Dilip Walse- Patil, who was home minister in the previous MVA government, too have been given 'Y-plus-escort' cover.
Patil, Patel, Bhujbal, Awhad and their colleague Dilip Walse Patil in one voice said they will not accept Pawar's decision. A few party functionaries even tendered their resignations on the spot to put pressure on the 82-year-old politician, while some workers suggested that a working president be appointed.
Senior counsel Aspi Chinoy, who appeared for Malik, submitted an affidavit by the minister where he apologized for having violated the court's November 29 order.
Replying to a debate on law and order in the Lower House, Walse Patil said Pravin Chavan has resigned as the special public prosecutor.
The 80-year-old leader was admitted to the Breach Candy Hospital on Sunday.
The Bombay high court on Monday quashed and set aside the order of a single bench of the HC that had refused to restrain Maharashtra minister Nawab Malik from making public statements against the Narcotics Control Bureau's zonal director Sameer Wankhede and his family.
The Supreme Court Monday declined the plea of jailed Nationalist Congress Party leaders and MLAs Nawab Malik and Anil Deshmukh seeking temporary release from prison to cast their votes in the Maharashtra legislative council election.
The AIMIM leader said that the party "laid certain conditions related to the development of our MLAs constituencies in Dhulia and Malegaon".
The tenure of Indian Revenue Service officer Sameer Wankhede with the Narcotics Control Bureau, which was marked by controversy, would end on December 31, official sources said on Friday.
A witness in a money-laundering case against Maharashtra minister Nawab Malik has stated before the Enforcement Directorate that fugitive gangster Dawood Ibrahim is based in Pakistan's Karachi city, while another witness said he was told that Dawood would send Rs 10 lakh to his siblings every month.
Speaking to reporters in Mumbai, Malik said he was not fighting a battle of caste or religion, but highlighting how a government job was obtained on a 'bogus' caste certificate.
The wife of under-fire NCB zonal director Sameer Wankhede on Tuesday came out in strong support of her husband and said they were getting threat calls, facing vicious trolling online and living in fear as she rejected allegations levelled against him by Maharashtra minister Nawab Malik.
The government will not come down just because teh BJP are gossiping, state minister Nawab Malik said
Sources added that Wankhede, also submitted divorce papers of his first marriage, birth certificate and other related documents.
Unless it leaves the NDA, we will wait and watch the developments, the NCP said.
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