Former Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) officer Sameer Wankhede has filed a defamation suit against actor Rakhi Sawant and advocate Ali Kaashif Khan who represented model Munmun Dhamecha in the Cordelia cruise drugs bust case.
Wankhede has the filed the suit in the Dindoshi civil court claiming ₹11 lakh in damages. He also sought a restraining order against them for passing any statements, comments or remarks against him.
According to his application, Khan leveled serious allegations against Wankhede in interviews with news channels and posted offensive and baseless content on his social media accounts. Sawant had reposted his social media posts, including the documents annexed by the lawyer, he claimed.
On May 17, 2023, Wankhede said that Khan defamed him on a Marathi news channel by calling him a media-obsessed person who targeted celebrities. The application mentioned Khan’s further allegation, “He (Wankhede) lodges false cases and misuses section 29. This was the case of Rhea Chakraborty."
Wankhede said the entire statement was not only a deliberate lie but also a concocted, false, and baseless defamatory remark done with an intention to slander the officer and defame his reputation along with that of the NCB.
“The plaintiff (Wankhede), an IRS officer, has immense respect in society and prestige in his department. He has a blot-less career,” the application said. “The plaintiff holds an eminent personality, being one of the most prestigious names in government services and is involved in several social services. The plaintiff holds a position of great responsibility and integrity within the department.”
The application further alleged that Khan continued such defamatory statements in his interviews with other news channels and posted offensive and baseless content on social media. Such statements were posted for self-promotion and gaining adverse publicity, it said.
“The defendant (Khan) posted a story wherein he inter alia made a comment, ‘when I didn’t spare officer like SAMEER WANKHEDE, who is now facing CBI FIR, who are you? Don’t attempt to come on my enemy list’,” Wankhede said in his application, alleging that the sole intention behind such statements was to prejudice the mind of public in an ongoing case in which his (Khan’s) client, Munmun Dhamecha, was one of the accused.
Wankhede said he had been facing continuous mental agony, emotional distress and harassment due to Khan’s false, frivolous, fictitious, and baseless allegations, which was affecting his mental peace and damaging his credibility.
He claimed ₹10 lakh in compensation for the damages for defamation caused to him and ₹1 lakh for his mental agony and emotional distress.
