Excise Dept in Thane sends notice to Sameer Wankhede over bar licence

Mumbai: The Thane unit of the central excise department has issued a notice to Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) Mumbai zonal director Sameer Wankhede in connection with a bar licence issued to him in 1997. Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader and Maharashtra minister Nawab Malik had earlier claimed that Wankhede was given the licence despite being ineligible for it.

The Thane excise unit’s superintender Nilesh Sangde said the notice was issued on December 10 following an inquiry into Malik’s allegations claiming that Wankhede was 17 years old when he received the licence for the bar in Hotel Sadguru in Navi Mumbai.

“It has come to light that Wankhede did not provide any proof of his age at the time of applying for the licence. We have asked him to respond to the notice in writing by or before December 17. After that, we will schedule a hearing before the Thane collector and further course of action will be depend on the outcome of the hearing,” Sangde said.

He added that inquiries are also being conducting internally to find out how the license was issued when no proof of age was furnished by Wankhede.

Wankhede’s father Dnyandev maintains that the application for the licence was submitted based on the assumption that the age eligibility was 18 years.

“Sameer was 17 years and 10 months old at the time, and the license is granted by a committee after deliberations. We had assumed that this process would take a couple of months during which time Sameer would turn 18. How is it our fault if the committee issued the license immediately?” the senior Wankhede asked.

Excise officials, however, maintained that the permissible age had always been 21 years.

Dnyandev added, “If the excise department wants to cancel my licence, they should return the lakhs of rupees I have paid as licence fees every year. I am prepared to go to court for this.”