The Bombay High Court has issued a notice in response to a petition filed by former NCB Zonal Director Sameer Wankhede, who is seeking the transfer of the investigation in a case against NCP leader Nawab Malik to an independent agency, such as the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
The petition was heard by a division bench consisting of Justice Revati Mohite Dere and Justice PK Chavan.
The court has directed the Goregaon Police to provide an update on the investigation within two weeks and has ordered the concerned officer to appear in court at the next hearing.
In August 2022, Wankhede filed a complaint with the Goregaon Police under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, accusing Malik of making caste-based remarks about him during interviews and on social media. Wankhede further alleged that Malik had launched a campaign to tarnish his reputation and that of his family following the arrest of Malik’s son-in-law, Sameer Khan, in a drug-related case in 2021.
Wankhede also noted that he had filed a complaint with the Scheduled Caste Commission over Malik’s remarks and initiated a defamation suit, which led to a court-issued cease and desist order, preventing Malik from making further defamatory statements. Despite these actions, Wankhede claimed that the Goregaon Police had neither conducted an investigation nor filed a chargesheet against Malik.
“..it is crystal clear that the Goregaon Police Personnel have adopted a lackadaisical, unethical, objectionable, contemptuous and abhorrent approach in the investigation of the subject CR. Hence, it is necessary that the investigation in the present CR be transferred an to Independent Investigating Agency and/or A Court monitored investigation be carried out so as to ensure that the investigation is conducted irnpartially and without any bias in this subject,” the plea reads.
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