An ?independent witness? in Mumbai cruise drugs seizure case on Sunday made a big claim that Rs 25 crore was demanded by an official of the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) and other persons, including absconding witness K P Gosavi, to let off Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan?s son Aryan Khan, who was arrested in alleged connection with the case. Follow LIVE Updates
Aryan (23) was arrested by the NCB on October 3 following a raid on a cruise ship off the Mumbai coast. Currently in jail, Aryan on Wednesday moved to the Bombay High Court after a special court rejected his bail application. The High Court will hear his bail plea on October 26.
Here are 10 points on latest developments on this high-profile case:
1. Prabhakar Sail, the ?independent witness?, told media persons that he had overheard Gosavi telling one Sam D?Souza over the phone after Aryan Khan was brought to the NCB office after the October 3 raid about a demand of Rs 25 crore and ?to settle at Rs 18 crore as they have to give Rs 8 crore to Sameer Wankhede?, the zonal director of NCB.
2. Sail also claimed NCB officials had asked him to sign nine to ten blank papers. However, a senior NCB official denied the allegations, terming them as ?completely false and malicious?.
ALSO READ: Mumbai Drugs Case: Witness Claims NCB ?Asked Him to Sign Blank Papers?; Agency Denies Charge
3. Meanwhile, Wankhede on Sunday wrote to Mumbai police commissioner Hemant Nagrale seeking protection from likely legal action ?being planned? against him by unknown persons to falsely frame him concerning an alleged vigilance related issue. Without taking names, Wankhede, an IRS officer of the 2008 batch, claimed in his letter that the threat of jail and dismissal have been issued against him on public media by highly respectable public functionaries.
4. Sail is the personal bodyguard of Gosavi, who is absconding in a 2018 job cheating case. Sail, who had accompanied Gosavi on the night of the raid, said that after Aryan Khan was brought to the NCB office, Gosavi met D?Souza.
ALSO READ: ‘Never Been to Dubai, Was in Maldives With Family’: NCB’s Sameer Wankhede Slams Nawab Malik’s Charges
5. Sail claimed he overheard Gosavi telling D?Souza over the phone about a demand of Rs 25 crore and to settle at Rs 18 crore as they ?have to give Rs 8 crore to Sameer Wankhede?.
6. The NCB, while stating that Wankhede has categorically denied the allegations, also said that as the matter is sub-judice, Sail should have submitted his prayer to the court if he had anything to say. Mumbai NCB?s Deputy Director General (DDG) Mutha Ashok Jain issued a statement saying that he came to know through social media that Sail is a witness in the case.
7. ?As he (Sail) is a witness in the case and the case is before the honourable court and is sub judice, he needs to submit his prayer to the court rather than through social media if he has anything to say,? the NCB statement said. In addition, there are certain vigilance-related allegations against certain persons in the affidavit, which are based on overhearing by Prabhakar Sail, it said.
ALSO READ: NCB ?Misinterpreting? WhatsApp Chats to Implicate Me, Says Aryan Khan in Bail Plea
8. Sail, who has prepared a notarized affidavit and claimed to have submitted in court, also said that Rs 50 lakh was delivered to Gosavi by two persons, and he later returned Rs 38 lakh. Sail stated that he reached the NCB office on October 2 morning and saw Gosavi getting down along with an NCB official. NCB zonal director Samir Wankhede also came out of the office, he claimed. Later in that afternoon Gosavi sent 10-12 photographs on Sail?s mobile phone and asked him to identify if any of these persons coming to board the cruise ship through the green gate. Sail stated that he identified only Munmun Dhamecha.
9. Sail also claimed that Gosavi last called him on October 21 and told him that he was not in the country. He said he would surrender before the police soon, he stated.
10. As Sail?s claims about the bribery deal caused a flutter, Maharashtra Congress unit president Nana Patole on Sunday demanded a high-level probe by the state government. Maharashtra minister and NCP spokesman Nawab Malik, who has repeatedly termed the cruise drugs bust case as ?fake?, said Sail?s claims were ?very serious? and demanded a probe into it by a Special Investigation Team (SIT). Maharashtra NCP president Jayant Patil said the alleged demand of Rs 25 crore was a serious issue.
(with inputs from PTI)
Read all the Latest News , Breaking News and IPL 2022 Live Updates here.
Comments
0 comment