IRS officer and former Mumbai NCB Zonal Director Sameer Wankhede has been booked for cheating and forgery, on the charge of alleged misrepresentation of his age while obtaining a hotel licence. The action comes days after the hotel licence was cancelled by the state excise department after its probe established that Wankhede was under 18 years of age when the licence was obtained in 1996-97.
Late on Saturday night, an offence under sections pertaining to cheating and forgery was registered at Kopri police station, Thane, on the complaint of Inspector Satyawan Gogavale of the state excise department. On February 1, the Thane collector had cancelled Wankhede’s licence for Sadguru Bar, located in the Truck Terminal building, Sector 19 of Vashi.
NCP leader and Maharashtra minister Nawab Malik had raised the issue of Wankhede being issued the hotel licence even though he was a minor. The minister also alleged that holding a licence to operate a hotel was against service rules.
Following the raid on a cruise ship leading to the seizure of drugs in October last year, in which actor Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan was among those arrested, Malik had levelled a series of allegations against the IRS officer.
After the minister’s remarks, the state excise department had initiated an inquiry into the licence allegations. In the process, the department issued a notice to Wankhede and recorded his response.
The inquiry has concluded that at the time of obtaining the licence, Wankhede was below 18 years of age, as against the permissible age of 21 years.
It has been stated in the FIR that Wankhede’s age has not been mentioned in the application for the hotel licence but he was termed as an adult in the affidavit submitted.
