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Wankhede family followed Islam, says NCB officer's ex-father-in-law
Dr Zaheed Quraishi said people are now asking him how he allowed his daughter's marriage with a Hindu, following the row over Sameer Wankhede's religion. Sameer practised Islam at that time, Quraishi clarified.
Dr Zaheed Quraishi, the father of Sameer Wankhede's first wife Shabana Quraishi, has confirmed that he always knew the Wankhede family as the followers of Islam. In 2006, when Sameer and Shabana got married, Sameer practised Islam and would occasionally visit mosques, Dr Quraishi said, as reported by PTI.
"We always knew the Wankhede family as followers of Islam. In fact, I always knew Dnyandev as Dawood Wankhede. We agreed to the marriage of my daughter Dr Shabana with Sameer because we had cordial relations with his late mother Zaheeda," Dr Qureshi said.
The marriage between Sameer and Shabana was an arranged marriage that did not last more than a month as the duo got divorced in the same month. Maharashtra minister Nawab Malik has claimed that the wedding was according to Islamic rituals and posted the nikah-nama on social media to substantiate his claim that Sameer Wankhede concealed his Muslim identity and forged documents to claim SC quota in teh UPSC.
‘Nikah wouldn’t have been performed if': What Qazi says on Sameer Wankhede's 1st marriage
Wankhede refuted the allegations and claimed that his mother was a Muslim and the wedding was done according to Islamic rituals as it was his mother's wish. He never converted to Islam and the marriage was also registered under the Special Marriage Act.
'How did I allow my daughter to marry a Hindu
Sameer Wankhede's ex-father-in-law said since the controversy over Sameer Wankhede's religion broke out, he was being questioned by people abouthow he allowed his daughter to marry a Hindu. "It became an issue of prestige for me and my family. Hence I am making it clear that when the marriage between my daughter Shabana and Sameer Wankhede took place, the groom was practising Islam. His father's name was Dawood," he said.
On Wankhede getting the government job two years after his first marriage, Dr Quraishi said, "You generally don't go so deep into someone else's life. In those days, it was not even practice to find out whether the job is sought through some quota or not."
Before his ex-father-in-law, the Qazi who claimed to have performed the nikah said Sameer Wankhede at the time of the wedding belonged to a Muslim family. Otherwise, the 'nikah' would not have been solemnised, he said.
