News Analysis India

Tag: Aryan Khan

  • Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray to write to PM Modi over NCB’s ‘harassment’ on celebrities

    Express News Service

    MUMBAI: Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray will write to Prime Minister Narendra Modi raising concern over the malafide actions of Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) and other central agencies on Bollywood celebrities and extorting them as it will have an adverse impact on Mumbai and the country’s economy.

    Maharashtra minister Nawab Malik met Thackeray and home minister Dilip Walse Patil demanding a Special Investigation Team (SIT) probe into the allegations of NCB’s malafide raid and extortion racket. Malik said that the chief minister also raised concerns over the the anti-drug agency’s malafide raids on Bollywood personalities on flimsy charges and the following harassment.

    “The chief minister said that after Hollywood, Bollywood is the only major entertainment industry in the world which not only spreads our culture but generates jobs as well. The industry’s contribution is two to three per cent in they country’s GDP and if it is damaged, then not only Mumbai will suffer but the country’s economy will also,” Malik said

    Meanwhile, the NCB has formed a five-member team to probe extortion charges against is Mumbai zonal director Sameer Wankhede.

    A five-member NCB team including deputy DG (North) Gyaneshwar Singh will leave Delhi for Mumbai on Wednesday to probe the charges against Wankhede of extortion, planting drugs and framing Bollywood celebrities along with politicians .

    NCP spokesperson Sanjay Tatkare alleged, “Gyaneshwar Singh is the same person, who not only defended the agency’s functioning but also protected Wankhede as well  after minsiter Nawab Malik’s big expose on the involvement of a private citizen (KP Gosavi) and BJP leader Manish Bhanushali in the cruise party raid case. So, how can we expect a fair probe against Wankhede,” Tatkare alleged.

    Prabhakar Sail, an independent witness in the cruise drugs case, had on Sunday revealed in an affidavit and a video message that Wankhede, his middle man Sam D’Souza and Gosavi had demanded Rs 25 crore from Bollywood star Shahrukh Khan to release his son from a drug case.

    ALSO READ| NCB Mumbai director Sameer Wankhede visits Delhi headquarters

    He had also alleged that Sameer Wankhede had forcibly taken his signature as a witness on ten blank pages in the cruise raid case.

    Meanwhile, Malik, who welcomed the NCB’s probe against Wankhede, also submitted another set of  allegations against Sameer Wankhede where it was alleged that Wankhede used to plant drugs in celebrities’ houses, frame them and extort money later.

    The ‘Special 26’ charges against Wankhede was anonymously shared by the NCB officer with Malik by post. The NCP leader submitted it to the NCB asking the charges are very serious in nature and it should should be included as part of their probe against Wankhede.

    Reacting to this anonymous letter, NCB’s deputy DG (South-West) Mutha Ashok Jain said that they have received the letter and decided to take cognizance of the same.

    Malik further alleged that Wankhede was illegally intercepting phones of some people with the help of two private citizens in Mumbai and Thane and also said that Wankhede is checking the call records of the minister’s daughters. “He is intruding into a citizen’s privacy by intercepting their mobiles phone and then trapping and framing them. This is a syndicated crime that has to be probed fairly,” Malik said.

    ALSO READ| Prabhakar Sail stands by allegation of extortion attempt in Aryan Khan drugs case

    He also asked the Wankhede family that if the birth certificate of Sameer Wankhede shared by him is fake then they should share his original certificate and added that a complaint will be filed in the alleged fake caste certificate case.

    “ManyDalit activists and organisations are in touch with me and soon they will be filing a complaint. Wankhede has snatched the right of an eligible SC student for becoming an IRS officer by using a false certificate,” the minister said.

    Meanwhile, senior lawyer and former attorney-general Mukul Rohatgi made a strong argument in the Bombay High Court during the hearing for the bail application of Aryan Khan. He said that though Aryan neither had possession of nor did he consume any drug, he was still sent to jail for 20 days.

    Justice NW Sambre of the Bombay HC adjourned the hearing on Wednesday where the bail plea of other accused Arbaz Merchant and Munmum Dhamecha will be also heard.

  • Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray to write to PM Modi over NCB’s ‘harassment’ of celebrities

    Express News Service

    MUMBAI: Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray will write to Prime Minister Narendra Modi raising concerns about what he sees as the malafide actions of the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) and other central agencies against Bollywood celebrities as he believes these will have an adverse impact on Mumbai’s and the country’s economy.

    Maharashtra minister Nawab Malik met Thackeray and home minister Dilip Walse Patil demanding a Special Investigation Team (SIT) probe into the allegations of NCB’s malafide raid and extortion racket. Malik said that the chief minister also raised concerns over the the anti-drug agency’s malafide raids on Bollywood personalities on flimsy charges and the following harassment.

    ALSO READ| Mumbai Police record Prabhakar Sail’s statement over extortion allegation

    “The chief minister said that after Hollywood, Bollywood is the only major entertainment industry in the world which not only spreads our culture but generates jobs as well. The industry’s contribution is two to three per cent in they country’s GDP and if it is damaged, then not only Mumbai will suffer but the country’s economy will also,” Malik said

    The NCB has formed a five-member team to probe extortion charges against its Mumbai zonal director Sameer Wankhede.

    A five-member NCB team including deputy DG (North) Gyaneshwar Singh will leave Delhi for Mumbai on Wednesday to probe the charges against Wankhede of extortion, planting drugs and framing Bollywood celebrities along with politicians .

    NCP spokesperson Sanjay Tatkare alleged, “Gyaneshwar Singh is the same person, who not only defended the agency’s functioning but also protected Wankhede as well  after minsiter Nawab Malik’s big expose on the involvement of a private citizen (KP Gosavi) and BJP leader Manish Bhanushali in the cruise party raid case. So, how can we expect a fair probe against Wankhede,” Tatkare alleged.

    Prabhakar Sail, an independent witness in the cruise drugs case, had on Sunday revealed in an affidavit and a video message that Wankhede, his middle man Sam D’Souza and Gosavi had demanded Rs 25 crore from Bollywood star Shahrukh Khan to release his son from a drug case.

    ALSO READ| NCB Mumbai director Sameer Wankhede visits Delhi headquarters

    He had also alleged that Sameer Wankhede had forcibly taken his signature as a witness on ten blank pages in the cruise raid case.

    Meanwhile, Malik, who welcomed the NCB’s probe against Wankhede, also submitted another set of  allegations against Sameer Wankhede where it was alleged that Wankhede used to plant drugs in celebrities’ houses, frame them and extort money later.

    The ‘Special 26’ charges against Wankhede was anonymously shared by the NCB officer with Malik by post. The NCP leader submitted it to the NCB asking the charges are very serious in nature and it should should be included as part of their probe against Wankhede.

    Reacting to this anonymous letter, NCB’s deputy DG (South-West) Mutha Ashok Jain said that they have received the letter and decided to take cognizance of the same.

    Malik further alleged that Wankhede was illegally intercepting phones of some people with the help of two private citizens in Mumbai and Thane and also said that Wankhede is checking the call records of the minister’s daughters. “He is intruding into a citizen’s privacy by intercepting their mobiles phone and then trapping and framing them. This is a syndicated crime that has to be probed fairly,” Malik said.

    ALSO READ| Prabhakar Sail stands by allegation of extortion attempt in Aryan Khan drugs case

    He also asked the Wankhede family that if the birth certificate of Sameer Wankhede shared by him is fake then they should share his original certificate and added that a complaint will be filed in the alleged fake caste certificate case.

    “ManyDalit activists and organisations are in touch with me and soon they will be filing a complaint. Wankhede has snatched the right of an eligible SC student for becoming an IRS officer by using a false certificate,” the minister said.

    Meanwhile, senior lawyer and former attorney-general Mukul Rohatgi made a strong argument in the Bombay High Court during the hearing for the bail application of Aryan Khan. He said that though Aryan neither had possession of nor did he consume any drug, he was still sent to jail for 20 days.

    Justice NW Sambre of the Bombay HC adjourned the hearing on Wednesday where the bail plea of other accused Arbaz Merchant and Munmum Dhamecha will be also heard.

  • Witness Sail stands by allegation of extortion attempt in Aryan Khan drugs case

    By PTI

    MUMBAI: Prabhakar Sail, an independent witness in the alleged drugs case involving Aryan Khan, said on Wednesday that he stood by his allegation of extortion demand against NCB zonal director Sameer Wankhede and others, and nobody had tutored him.

    Wankhede has already denied the allegation. Speaking to reporters here, Sail showed some chats on a mobile phone where K P Gosavi, another witness in the case, purportedly asked him to collect the extortion money from Haji Ali.

    ALSO READ: Aryan Khan to spend another night in jail, HC to resume bail plea hearing on Wednesday

    “I have narrated everything chronologically and nothing is made-up. Nobody is asking me to speak about this issue,” Sail said. “I don’t have any relations with any politician. I am a 40-year-old man and do not have a single case registered against me,” he said, denying allegations that he was going to get some quid-pro-quo for levelling the allegations.

    Sail has also sent an application to Mumbai Police claiming that he had overheard Gosavi talking to one Sam D’Souza over the phone about a demand of Rs 25 crore including Rs 8 crore for Sameer Wankhede.

    ALSO READ: Aryan Khan not just drug consumer, but also involved in trafficking, tampering with evidence, says NCB to HC

    Earlier this month, a team led by Wankhede raided a cruise ship off the coast of Mumbai and claimed to have recovered drugs. They arrested Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan Khan along with others in the case.

  • Aryan Khan to spend another night in jail, HC to resume bail plea hearing on Wednesday

    By Online Desk

    The Bombay High Court Tuesday adjourned the bail plea of Aryan Khan, arrested in the cruise drug seizure case, to Wednesday.

    The court will resume hearing Aryan’s bail plea at 2.30 pm on Wednesday. This means that actor Shah Rukh Khan’s son will have to spend another night at the Arthur Road Jail in Mumbai, where he has been lodged for a little over two weeks.

    A special court in Mumbai last Wednesday refused to grant bail to Aryan Khan and two others in connection with the seizure of drugs. Following this, Aryan moved a bail application in the High Court against the NDPS court order on his bail rejection.

    Earlier, former Attorney General of India, Mukul Rohatgi, who appeared for Aryan Khan, argued that the Starkid was just a guest and not a customer on the Goa-bound cruise from where the NCB nabbed him following a raid.

    Rohatgi, who was pleading before Justice Nitin Sambre of the Bombay High Court, said neither there was any recovery of drugs from Aryan Khan, nor any medical test conducted or consumption of drugs found. So there was no need to arrest him. “No recovery, no consumption, I submit I am wrongly arrested,” Rohatgi said while arguing for Aryan.

    Also, there was no material to show that Aryan financed illicit trafficking of drugs, the former AG added. “Penalty is for consumption or carrying it. I don’t have it, possession of somebody else can’t be my possession. Unless it is in my knowledge.”

    Young Aryan should be sent for rehabilitation and not jail, Rohatgi further pleaded while citing the Centre’s plans to bring in reform measures.

    “He is a young boy with no (criminal) antecedents. The law provides that if someone is found consuming drugs, one has to be taken to rehab. The approach is not to keep people in jails. The social justice ministry is talking about reforms,” the former AG argued.

    The NCB, in its affidavit, said attempts are being made to tamper with the ongoing investigation with a malafide intention to derail the probe into the case. “This is evident from the contents of a purported affidavit of one Prabhakar Sail,” the agency said, referring to the allegations of extortion attempt made by Sail, an independent witness in the case.

    The affidavit also referred to Pooja Dadlani and said: “this lady appears to have influenced panch witnesses when the investigation is ongoing”. The NCB said the bail plea was “misconceived and ill-conceived”.

    It said the probe into the case so far has revealed Aryan Khan’s role in illicit procurement, transportation, and consumption of drugs. The agency said prima facie investigation has revealed that Aryan Khan used to procure drugs from his friend Arbaaz Merchant, also an accused in the case.

    “The applicant (Aryan Khan) was in touch with some persons abroad who appear to be part of an international drug network for illicit procurement of drugs,” it said. The affidavit further said even though there has been no recovery from Aryan Khan, he has “participated in the conspiracy”. “Prima facie investigation has revealed that this application is not just a mere consumer of drugs as sought to be made out by him,” it said.

    The applicant has not made out any case for enlargement of bail, prima facie, and/or otherwise, the NCB said. “The role of this applicant (Aryan Khan) in the commission of grave and serious offences under the NDPS Act including illicit drug trafficking is apparent considering the nexus and connection of this applicant with the other accused in the case,” the affidavit said.

    It added that there has been the recovery of an intermediate quantity of drugs from the other accused in the case and hence, the case of Aryan Khan cannot be looked at in isolation.

    “The ingredients of conspiracy are clear and evident,” the affidavit said, adding that in such cases the quantum of recovery of drugs from an individual accused becomes inconsequential. The NCB also said it is still probing the case and a charge sheet needs to be filed. It said the agency requires sufficient time to properly investigate the international linkages so as to approach the foreign agency concerned through proper channel, which would entail some more time.

    Meanwhile, Aryan Khan’s advocates submitted to the HC an additional note stating that he has nothing to do with the allegations and counter-allegations that are being circulated between the NCB’s zonal director Wankhede and certain political personalities. “The applicant (Aryan Khan) does not make any allegations against any individual in the prosecution department,” the note said.

    It further said Aryan Khan has no connection with Prabhakar Sail, an independent witness in the case, who has made allegations of extortion attempts against Wankhede and others.

  • NCB Mumbai director Sameer Wankhede visits Delhi headquarters amid corruption allegations

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: Sameer Wankhede, the Narcotics Control Bureau’s Mumbai zonal director who is leading the probe in the cruise drugs case in which actor Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan Khan is arrested, visited the agency’s headquarters here on Tuesday and spent over two hours.

    The officer entered the NCB office in the RK Puram area through a back entry gate and is understood to have met his senior officers. Some people holding banners in support of Wankhede and certain posters hailing him were seen outside the NCB headquarters.

    It was not confirmed if Wankhede met NCB director-general (DG) SN Pradhan. However, sources indicated that the top brass of the federal anti-narcotics agency met on Tuesday for a review meeting of various zonal offices of the agency in the country.

    NCB deputy director-general (DDG) northern region Gyaneshwar Singh, heading the departmental vigilance probe on the allegations of extortion in the drugs-on-cruise case, told reporters outside the NCB office that he “did not call anyone for my probe”. “When it is required, I will call him (Wankhede),” Singh, an IPS officer, said.

    He added that he was not travelling to Mumbai on Tuesday. Wankhede’s visit to the national capital comes in the backdrop of the NCB ordering a vigilance inquiry into the allegations made by a witness in the cruise drugs case of an extortion bid of Rs 25 crore by some agency officials, including the Mumbai zonal director, and others for letting off Aryan Khan.

    The officer had told media persons outside the IGI Airport on Monday that he has not been summoned by the agency but has some work here adding he did a fair job in the drugs-on-cruise case.

    Wankhede on Sunday had written 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.

    On Monday, he failed to get any relief related to an affidavit on the sensational extortion claims made by the independent witness, Prabhakar Sail, with a special court saying it cannot pass a blanket order barring courts from taking cognisance of the document.

  • Aryan Khan not just drug consumer, but also involved in trafficking, tampering with evidence: NCB to HC

    The agency also claimed that Aryan Khan and a woman named Pooja Dadlani, Shah Rukh Khan's manager, were tampering with the evidence and witnesses in the case.

  • Cruise ship drug case: Former AG Mukul Rohatgi to represent Aryan Khan in Bombay HC

    By ANI

    MUMBAI: Former Attorney General of India Mukul Rohatgi will appear for Aryan Khan’s bail plea in Mumbai cruise drug case before the Bombay High Court on Tuesday.

    He will appear physically in the Court and argue the matter.

    “I will appear for Aryan Khan in his bail matter today in Bombay High Court,” said Rohatgi.

    According to a statement of Karanjawala & Company, Mukul Rohatgi along with his Karanjawala & Co team consisting of Senior Partners Ruby Singh Ahuja and Sandeep Kapur have flown to Bombay to add to legal team of Aryan Khan.

    The team already has Amit Desai, Senior Advocate, Satish Manshinde, Senior Advocate, Anandini Fernandes, along with Advocate Rustom Mulla, Desai Desai Carrimjee & Mulla.

    Bombay High Court is scheduled to hear popular actor Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan Khan’s bail plea.

    Bombay High Court on October 21 said that it would hear Aryan Khan’s bail application on October 26, informed lawyer Satish Maneshinde. “We asked the court that the matter should be heard by video conferencing but the judge refused,” added Maneshinde.

    Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan on October 21 met his son Aryan Khan who is lodged at Mumbai’s Arthur Road Jail.

    A special court in Mumbai on Wednesday refused to grant bail to Aryan and two others in connection with the seizure of drugs. Following this, Aryan Khan moved a bail application in the Bombay High Court against the NDPS court order on his bail rejection.

    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 two Nigerian nationals, have been arrested so far in the case.

  • ‘False reports’: Lucknow Police on rumours over NCB witness KP Gosavi ‘ready to surrender’

    By ANI

    LUCKNOW: Lucknow Police on Monday evening refuted media reports stating that Narcotics Bureau witness KP Gosavi, whose selfie with Aryan Khan has went viral on social media and who dismissed allegations of taking money from an individual after the cruise ship raid, of surrendering to them in the city.

    Addressing the reporters in Lucknow, Station House Officer (SHO) of Madiyaon, Manoj Singh said, “I did not receive any call on the matter. I have no information about it.”

    Gosavi said that allegations of taking money are false and the stories were fabricated to change the course of the investigation.

    In a conversation with ANI over the call, Gosavi said, “All allegations are false. They fabricated stories to change direction (of probe).” He alleged that it was him who was being threatened and said, “It’s I who was being threatened that I led to his (Aryan Khan’s) arrest. I received phone calls.”

    Gosavi told ANI that he would be surrendering to the police outside of Maharashtra and that all speculations would be cleared then. “I’m surrendering outside Maharashtra. Everything will be clear,” he said.

    Referring to NCB witness Kiran Gosavi’s statement to media that he would soon surrender, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Faraskhana division of Pune Police, Satish Govekar on Monday said that they have no information about it and are still searching for him.

    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 Aryan Khan, have been arrested so far in the case.

  • Sameer Wankhede and other officers have impeccable service record: NCB tells court

    In the affidavits, the anti-drugs agency and Wankhede sought the court to pass an order saying no court should take cognizance of the affidavit prepared by the independent witness, Prabhakar Sail.

  • Cruise drug case: Advocate approaches Mumbai police for FIR against Wankhede, 5 others for ‘extortion’

    By PTI

    MUMBAI: A lawyer on Monday approached the Mumbai police with a complaint seeking registration of an FIR against Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) zonal director Sameer Wankhede and five others on charge of alleged extortion in connection with the drugs-on-cruise case, an official said.

    According to the official, lawyer Sudha Dwivedi submitted the written complaint at the MRA Marg police station and also to offices of Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) Milind Bharambhe and the state Anti-Corruption Bureau.

    In the complaint, Dwivedi has demanded registration of FIR against Wankhede and five others, including NCB witnesses in the drugs case Prabhakar Sail and KP Gosavi, and a person named Sam D’Souza over alleged extortion charge.

    “We have received the complaint, but no FIR has been registered till now,” another official said.

    ALSO READ: Did man behind Aryan Khan’s arrest Sameer Wankhede forge caste certificate to get job?

    The complaint comes a day after Sail claimed an extortion bid of Rs 25 crore by some NCB officials, including Wankhede, and others for letting off accused Aryan Khan, son of actor Shah Rukh Khan, in the drugs case.

    Sail said he was the bodyguard of another witness in the case, Gosavi, who is absconding after the NCB raids that were conducted on October 3 at the cruise terminal on Mumbai’s coast leading to the arrest of as many as 20 people, including Aryan Khan.

    Wankhede has denied the allegations being made against him in this case. Earlier in the day, the IRS officer and the NCB filed two separate affidavits before a special court against the allegations of extortion attempt levelled against them.

    ALSO READ: Video showing absconding witness KP Gosavi recording Aryan Khan goes viral

    Wankhede, in his affidavit submitted to the court, refuted the allegations levelled against him, and claimed he was under a “lurking threat of arrest as it does not suit some vested interests for conducting an honest and impartial investigation”.

    However, the special court said it cannot pass a blanket order barring courts from taking cognizance of an affidavit prepared by Sail in which he has made allegations of extortion attempt by Wankhede and others.