WHO IS SAMEER WANKHEDE?
A 2004 batch Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer, Wankhede has served as Deputy Commissioner of Air Intelligence Unit (AIU) and Additional SP of National Investigation Agency (NIA) before his stint with the NCB.
He also worked as Joint Commissioner of Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI).
During his high-profile career, he has brought to heel many tax-evading celebrities. Those who have worked with him describe Wankhede as a fearless, disciplined man with a no-nonsense attitude.
A self-confessed fan of Bollywood movies and cricket, he, however, never let that cloud his judgement in the line of duty. In fact, during his first posting as the deputy customs commissioner at Mumbai's Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport, he dealt with several film stars and cricketers who tried to evade customs duties and fines, make off with undeclared purchases, and threw tantrums.
“The celebrities used to create a scene,” Wankhede had said in an earlier interview to India Today. “They would threaten that they would complain to my on-duty senior but when I told them I was the senior-most official there, they had no option but to fall in line.”
When Wankhede was transferred to Maharashtra Service Tax department in 2010, he booked 2,500 people, including 200 celebrities, for evading tax. He also added revenue of Rs 87 crore in two years to the exchequer, a record in Mumbai.
In 2011, when serving in the Customs department, Sameer Wankhede ensured that even the Cricket World Cup trophy was released at the Mumbai airport only after custom duty was paid. The trophy was made of gold.
In 2013, he caught singer Mika Singh at the Mumbai airport with foreign currency. The officer has also raided properties owned by many Bollywood stars, including Anurag Kashyap, Vivek Oberoi and Ram Gopal Varma.
As part of an expansive probe to uproot the drug menace from Mumbai, Wankhede and his team have seized drugs worth Rs 17,000 crore in the last two years.
On November 22, 2020, Wankhede along with five other NCB officials were injured after being attacked by a mob made up of 60 alleged drug peddlers. He escaped with minor scrapes, though two of his colleagues were seriously wounded in the attack.
But Apparently he is working on Modi Instructions for some hidden animosity against the Legend SRK
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