IN CRUISE DRUGS CASE, NCB WITNESS’ BODYGUARD ALLEGES PAY-OFF

In a surprising twist to the cruise drugs case, in which film star Shah Rukh Khan’s son, Aryan is in jail, the bodyguard of Kiran Gosavi, who is a witness of the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) against the star kid, has alleged that Gosavi took Rs 50 lakh from an individual after the raid at the cruise ship. He has also alleged that NCB made him sign a blank paper. In a video message, the bodyguard, Prabhakar Rohoji Sail is heard alleging, “I worked as a bodyguard of Kiran Gosavi. I assisted him during the Mumbai cruise drugs case.” “On the night of the raid, I reached the place around 9:45 a.m. He asked me to stand near a car and somebody gave me two bags filled with cash for Gosavi. I took it to Vashi at Gosavi’s home and gave it to him. Right after this, I saw Kiran Gosavi packing bags and leaving for somewhere,” he said. “I handed over the bags of cash to him in his car. However, when he counted the cash it was only Rs 38 lakhs. Later, I left from there to Vashi,” he further alleged.

Reacting to the allegations made by the driver, Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut, in a tweet wrote, “Witness in #AryanKhan case made to sign on blank paper by NCB is shocking. Also, there are reports that there was a demand of huge money. CM Uddhav Thackeray said that these cases are made to defame Mah’shtra. This seems to be coming through Maharashtra Home Minister Dilip Walse Patil. Police should take a suo-moto cognizance.”

On 18 October, Maharashtra Police registered a case against Kiran Gosavi, the man who was seen taking a selfie with Aryan Khan at the NCB office soon after the latter was detained. As per the police, the case was lodged at Kelwa police station in Palghar alleging that Gosavi had duped Lakhs of rupees from people on the pretext of sending them abroad for jobs. Earlier, a case was registered against Gosavi with Faraskhana police station of Pune city on 19 May 2018, for allegedly committing fraud by promising a person a job in Malaysia by taking money. However, he neither returned the money nor offered the job to the complainant. The accused was booked under Sections 419, 420 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) along with relevant sections of the Intellectual Technology (IT) Act. Chargesheet was filed in the court as the accused was not found. He is still wanted in the case. The driver has also made allegations of corruption against NCB zonal director, Sameer Wankhede, who is helming the probe in the case. Reportedly, Wankhede said that he would give a “fitting reply” to the allegation against him.

According to a source in the NCB, “Investigation of this case has some important connections with other states too. The probe agency may soon go to other states to investigate the case.” According to sources, nearly five to six drug peddlers are on the NCB radar for alleged involvement in the cruise drugs case. “Now NCB is looking for the financial trail in the case. The agency will now check all the financial transactions of the accused arrested so far,” a source added.

An NCB team busted an alleged drugs party on the Cordelia Cruise ship which was on its way to Goa at mid-sea on October 2. A total of 20 people, including Shahrukh Khan’s son Aryan, have been arrested so far in the case.