According to the Thane police, the FIR was filed on Saturday night on the complaint of State Excise Department official Shankar Gogavale who alleged that Wankhede was below 18 years of age in 1996-97 while obtaining a license for Sadguru Bar in the city.
Mumbai: An FIR was filed against IRS officer and former zonal director of Mumbai NCB Sameer Wankhede for forgery in Mumbai`s Thane for allegedly obtaining a licence for a hotel by willful misrepresentation of his age.
According to the Kopri police, the FIR was filed on Saturday night on the complaint of State Excise Department official Shankar Gogavale who alleged that Wankhede was below 18 years of age in 1996-97 while obtaining a license for Sadguru Bar in the city.
Thane collector has issued an order to cancel the licence of the bar. As per the FIR, the former zonal NCB director was not eligible to do these agreements but he claimed to be a major on a Stamp paper in his agreement deed for Sadguru Hotel of Thane.
Maharashtra cabinet minister and NCP leader Nawab Malik had in November last year claimed that Wankhede owned a permit room and bar at Vashi in Navi Mumbai, the licence for which was obtained in 1997 when he was a minor, and that this was illegal.
Malik had also said that despite being in a government job, Wankhede held a licence to operate the permit room which was against service rules. Wankhede had then denied the minister’s claims. The state Excise department had subsequently issued a notice to Wankhede in connection with the bar licence obtained by him.
Following his response and examination of the matter, the district collector concluded that Wankhede had obtained the licence on October 27, 1997, when he was less than 18 years old, as against the permissible age of 21, an official said. Section 54 of the Prohibition Act has been invoked for the cancellation of the licence, as per the order.
Malik had levelled a series of allegations against Wankhede after the latter led a raid on a cruise ship in October last year and claimed to have seized drugs onboard. Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan Khan and some others were accused in the drugs-on-cruise case.
(With Agency Inputs)
