Mumbai caste certificate authority to probe Sameer Wankhede's caste certificate

Controversy is currently raging over the cast certificate of Mumbai NCB zonal director Sameer Wankhede. Following the allegations leveled by Nawab Malik, Minister for Minorities and Spokesperson of Nationalist Congress Party, many questions have arisen from Wankhede's Caste Certificate. According to a complaint lodged with the Mumbai Police, a Mumbai Police SIT has been set up and an investigation is underway. Now, after the complaint lodged by two more people, now Caste Certificate Scrutiny Committee of Mumbai Division has also started investigation in this matter.

According to sources, no instructions have been given by the Social Justice Minister of the Maharashtra government in this regard, but due to the complaints lodged, the Caste Certificate Scrutiny Committee has decided to look into the matter.

According to sources, the committee has received complaints from two people. One of the complainants is a group Youth Republican, led by dalit activist Manoj Sansare, and Bhim Army general secretary Ashok Kamble.

“We have documents to establish that Wankhede is not an SC, but he still secured a job under the SC quota in the Indian Revenue Service, customs and central excise, in 2008,” Sansare said in his letter to the member secretary of the committee.The committee has directed both the complainants to appear for the hearing on November 30. According to committee sources, Sameer Wankhede will have to appear before the committee after hearing the statements of the complainants. After that, the process of verifying all the documents of Sameer Wankhede will be started.

The complainants have given the birth certificate and marriage certificate of Sameer Wankhede to the committee as evidence. On that basis, the complainants claimed that the caste certificate of Sameer Wankhede was false.

According to committee sources, they have three months to investigate the situation. They can also ask for another month if needed. If during the investigation, it is proved that the document is false and many things have been obtained using it, then the committee has the power to revoke the caste certificate. Moreover, if the committee finds any malpractice, it will report it to the Magistrates' Court. If the court proves the document to be false, the court may order the police to file an FIR in the matter.