MUMBAI: Amid the bitter and personal feud that erupted with NCP leader Nawab Malik’s slew of allegations against NCB zonal director Sameer Wankhede leading the drugs-on-cruise investigation, Wankhede’s wife Kranti Redkar lashed out at the minister on Tuesday for “targeting the entire family” and playing the “religious and political card” to upend an investigation for “personal vendetta”.
“These are false accusations with zero proof. Sameer has been working neutrally, right? But these people are now using religious and political cards to get an honest officer off his chair so that they can derail the entire investigation. It’s sad that an entire family, now a prime target, has to speak up on behalf of a decorated officer,” rued Redkar, a Marathi actress who married Wankhede four years ago.
Redkar further claimed that Wankhede’s sister Yasmeen and she had been receiving threats of violence and verbal abuse from anonymous callers. “There was a call saying, ‘Tu nikal bahar, tere muh pe acid daal denge’ (Come out and we’ll throw acid on your face) and a message threatening to hang us in the middle of the road. I can’t report these because they show up as ‘unknown number’ and don’t reflect in call logs. Even on Twitter, I’m getting trolled relentlessly,” she said, adding that the department had provided her with “security personnel and a car” for her safety.