News Analysis India

Tag: NCB

  • Mumbai cruise ship case: NCP minister Nawab Malik demands probe into ‘release’ of trio

    Express News Service

    MUMBAI: NCP chief spokesperson and minister Nawab Malik alleged on Saturday that Rishab Sachdeva, the brother-in-law of former Mumbai BJP youth wing president Mohit Kumbhoj aka Bhartiya, and two others were let off by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) after their detention in the cruise rave party case.

    Malik said he will write to the Chief Minister of Maharashtra Uddhav Thackeray demanding a high-level probe by the Mumbai police to check how these people were detained and later let off.

    “The NCB director Sameer Wankhede in his media statement on October 3 said that 8 to 10 people were detained, but he arrested only eight. However, 11 people were detained as per the official record, but three of them — Rishabh Sachdeva, Pratik Ganbhana and Amir Furniturewala — were set free after phone calls from Mumbai and Delhi. We want to know who called Sameer Wankhede to let off these three people. Their phone records have to be checked,” Malik demanded.

    He said that CCTV footage of the cruise and connected areas of this case should be checked by the police along with phone calls of these three people and the NCB director Sameer Wankhede.

    ALSO READ: BJP leader’s brother-in-law among two let off by NCB after cruise ship raid, claims NCP

    “Rishabh Sachdeva’s family members were also seen in the NCB office. How were they allowed to enter the NCB office? It shows that this is a fabricated case to frame Aryan Khan to target Shahrukh Khan,” Malik alleged.

    He claimed that those who were let off invited Aryan Khan to the cruise party to frame him. “Therefore, all these people were left off after the arrest of Aryan Khan. Besides, KS Gosavi who was a witness in this case had given his addresses in two Panchanama for Aryan Khan and Arbaaz Merchant. Gosavi is declared wanted by four police stations of Maharashtra in duping the people in return for jobs. How can such a fraud and cheater be used as a witness by the NCB,” asked Malik.

    Leader of Opposition, State Legislative Council, and BJP MLC Pravin Darekar said that Nawab Malik’s son-in-law was arrested by the NCB in a drugs case and therefore he was deliberately targeting NCB officers. “Nawab Malik rather than making a statement in the media should submit the detail of this case to the NCB for further probe,” Darekar said.

  • Aurangabad: NCB officer arrested for molesting woman on train

    By ANI

    AURANGABAD: A 34-year-old officer with the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), Mumbai Branch, was arrested on Friday by Parli Railway Police for allegedly molesting a 25-year-old woman in a train, said Aurangabad Government Railway Police.

    According to police, the accused has been identified as Dinesh Chavan, an SP rank officer in NCB.

    According to the complaint, the victim and the accused were travelling to Hyderabad from Pune in the same train. The accused was travelling to Hyderabad for a court hearing.

    The complainant alleged that Chavan touched him inappropriately, removed her undergarments from her bag, sniffed and placed it on his chest, said M Patil, SP GRP Aurangabad.

    The police said that a case has been registered under Sections 354 (A) (sexual harassment) and 509 (Word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

    Further investigation is underway. 

  • Court denies NCB further custody of Aryan Khan, hearing of bail plea on Friday

    By Online Desk

    Aryan Khan, son of actor Shah Rukh Khan, has been sent to judicial custody by the Magistrate’s court in the drugs-on-cruise case. His bail plea will be heard at 11 am on Friday.

    The Esplanade court denied further remand by NCB before it sent the accused to judicial custody. The NCB sought the custody of Aryan Khan Arbaaz Merchant till Monday citing recovery of 2.6 grams ganja from them and name of the supplier, reported LiveLaw. 

    Aarchit Kumar, alleged to have supplied drugs to Aryan Khan and Arbaaz Merchant, was remanded to NCB’s custody till October 9.

    Aryan Khan, Arbaaz Merchant, and Munmun Dhamecha were arrested by the NCB on Sunday in connection with the seizure of banned drugs onboard a cruise ship off the Mumbai coast.

    Earlier this week, the NCB had told the court that “shocking and incriminating” material recovered in WhatsApp chats of Aryan and two others arrested in connection with the case showed international drug trafficking.  

    Aryan’s lawyer had claimed drugs were not recovered from the possession of his client. “Prima facie investigation conducted by the NCB reveals that there is incriminating material in the form of WhatsApp chats and so on that clearly shows the nexus with the arrested accused (Aryan Khan and two others) with suppliers and peddlers on a regular basis,” the NCB had said in its remand note.

    Officials of NCB Mumbai conducted a raid on the Cordelia Cruise on the way from Mumbai to Goa on October 2, 2021. A total of 8 persons, including Aryan Khan, were detained after the raids on Saturday night.

    The accused were arrested in connection with the seizure of 13 grams of cocaine, 5gms of MD (mephedrone), 21 grams of charas, 22 pills of MDMA (ecstasy), and Rs 1,33,000 at the International Cruise Terminal, Mumbai

    Officials of NCB Mumbai conducted a raid on the Cordelia Cruise on the way from Mumbai to Goa on October 2, 2021. A total of 8 persons, including Aryan Khan, were detained after the raids. The accused were arrested in connection with the seizure of 13 grams of cocaine, 5gms of MD (mephedrone), 21 grams of charas, 22 pills of MDMA (ecstasy) and Rs 1,33,000 at the International Cruise Terminal, Mumbai

    After the getting tip of the rave party, 22 officials of NCB booked tickets as normal passengers on the cruise by paying Rs 80,000 per passenger. These officials entered the cruise in plain clothes and conducted the raid and took the video of the people who were in possession of drugs on the ship. The code word for the rave party was RP-PCR. 

    A source said that the Mumbai police had also got a tip about this same party but they could not afford to buy this high-cost ticket for the cruise party and were not sure about the large-scale drug racket and probable big names.  

  • Mumbai drugs haul: NCP claims plot to malign Bollywood, Uddhav government; challenges NCB to come clean

    By Express News Service

    MUMBAI:  The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) on Wednesday alleged that the drug bust on cruise ship off Mumbai coast was nothing but an attempt to target Bollywood. 

    NCP’s chief spokesperson Nawab Malik alleged that two ‘private persons’ were present during the NCB raid on October 2.

    Claiming that one of them had BJP links, he accused the NCB of acting at the behest of the saffron party. Malik also alleged claimed that no drug seizure was made from the alleged rave party on the cruise.

    “The drama (raid) was fake. They did not find drugs on the ship,” Malik, who is Maharashtra Minorities Affairs Minister, said.

    He claimed that S K Salvi, a private detective as per his social media profile, was seen with Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan Khan at the NCB office while Manish Bhanushali, a BJP member, was seen escorting another accused, Arbaaz Merchant. 

    Asking the NCB to come clean on the matter, Malik said, “The entire NCB is being used by the BJP to malign the Maharashtra government and Bollywood.”

    While Congress spokesperson Sachin Sawant demanded an inquiry into Malik’s allegations, the NCB rubbished them.

    “The allegations are baseless. There is no substance in them. The private citizens helped in the raid which was conducted as per procedure,” an official of the agency said. Bhanushali claimed he was not an office bearer of any political party, and just helped the NCB. He threatened to sue Malik for defamation.

    The BJP said in its reaction that had there been no evidence, the court would have granted bail to Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan in the case.

    The Narcotics Control Bureau also termed the allegations as baseless.

    The NCB has so far arrested 17 people, including Aryan Khan, after allegedly seizing drugs from the Goa-bound ship on Saturday.

    “If these two men are not officials of the NCB, then why were they escorting two high-profile people (Khan and Merchant),” he asked.

    The man seen with Merchant was in Gujarat on September 21-22 and could be connected to the seizure of about 3,000 kilograms of heroin at Mundra Port, Malik claimed, asking the BJP to come clear on this person’s credentials.

    Notably, Malik’s son-in-law Sameer Khan had been arrested by the NCB on January 13, 2021, in an alleged drug case.

    He got bail in September.

    In a statement, Deputy Inspector General of NCB Gyaneshwar Singh said “some allegations” leveled against agency were baseless, and might have been made “in retaliation against earlier legal actions” carried out by it.

    Its procedure “has been and will continue to be professionally and legally transparent and unbiased,” the statement said.

    “Individuals named as Prabhakar Sail, Kiran Gosavi, Manish Bhanushali, Aubrey Gomez, Adil Usmani, V Waigankar, Aparna Rane, Prakash Bahadur, Shoib Faiz and Muzammil Ibrahim were associated with NCB as independent witnesses (panchas), ” the agency said.

    Reacting to Malik’s allegations, local BJP MLA Atul Bhatkhalkar said during lockdown, the Uddhav Thackeray-led state government was the first to open liquor shops, it also decided to lift prohibition in Chandrapur, and now Nawab Malik has accused the NCB of being a drug lord.

    Aryan Khan was represented by a senior criminal lawyer when he was produced in a court, Bhatkhalkar said.

    “The reason why the court granted custody of Aryan Khan to NCB even after he (this lawyer) argued for defence is because of the solid evidence against him (Khan). Had there been no evidence, he would have been granted immediate bail,” said the BJP leader.

    Malik’s allegations question the credibility of the court, he added.

    The BJP leader also asked whether Malik was targeting the NCB at the behest of his son-in-law.

    (With PTI Inputs)

  • From Sanjay Dutt to Aryan Khan, Bollywood celebrities embroiled in drugs controversy

    By Online Desk

    Following the arrest of Aryan Khan for alleged possession of banned drugs and substance abuse, the buzz around drug consumption among Bollywood personalities has revived once again.

    On Saturday evening, an NCB team busted a drugs party on the Cordelia Cruise ship which was on its way to Goa at mid-sea. Eight persons, including Aryan Khan, were detained for questioning by the NCB allegedly in connection with the drug seizure on the cruise ship, according to NCB Mumbai Director Sameer Wankhede. All the eight people detained from the Mumbai cruise were arrested by Mumbai police on Sunday.

    While the people related to the Hindi film industry have been accused of drug use several times, the debate around the topic gained momentum after the death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput in June 2020.

    Late actor Sushant Singh Rajput’s father KK Singh filed an FIR against actor and video jockey (VJ) Rhea Chakraborty and her family members in Patna in July 2020 for abetment of suicide. Rhea and her brother Showik Chakraborty were accused to be part of a drug cartel that had supplied drugs to the late actor.

    NCB in September 2020 also summoned actors Deepika Padukone, Sara Ali Khan, Shraddha Kapoor, and Rakul Preet Singh to record their statements in connection with the agency’s probe against the “drug syndicate”.

    Comedian Bharti Singh and her husband Harsh Limbachiyaa were arrested by NCB in November, following the alleged seizure of ganja from their house. The NCB had said that a search operation at the Versova home of the couple had allegedly led them to a bag with 65 grams of ganja and another 21.5 grams of cannabis from another residence.

    In December 2020, NCB had issued a notice to director Karan Johar over a video of a party that he had organised in 2019, where several Bollywood personalities were present.

    The viral video featured celebrities including Deepika Padukone, Ranbir Kapoor, Vicky Kaushal, Varun Dhawan, Arjun Kapoor, Shahid Kapoor, Ayan Mukherjee, Zoya Akhtar, and Malaika Arora. After seeing the clip, many people alleged that top stars who were present at the party were flaunting a “drugged look”.

    ALSO READ | Shah Rukh Khan’s son, two others sent to NCB custody till October 7

    Many Bollywood stars have opened up about their drug addiction in the past.

    Actor Prateik Babbar has been vocal about bouncing back after a struggle with drug and alcohol dependency. He said that he wanted to get his life back in order to make his late mother, Smita Patil, proud. His first experience with drugs came when he was 13.

    What started as experiments with marijuana and hashish, developed into an addiction to cocaine and acid for the ‘Jane Tu Ya Jane Na’ actor. Prateik admitted that his family encouraged him to sign up for rehab that eventually helped him get better.

    Sanjay Dutt also has a history of drug addiction. He had a nine-year-long battle with drugs. He was later sent to a rehabilitation centre in America.

    In a BBC documentary titled ‘To Hell and Back’, Dutt said, “I have done every drug there is. I was already on drugs when my mother was being treated for cancer. Once during shooting for ‘Rocky’ (Dutt’s debut film), I was so addicted that once I travelled with 1kg heroin hidden in my shoes.”

    Rajkumar Hirani’s biopic on actor Sanjay Dutt titled ‘Sanju’ featured his drug habit and rehabilitation.

    There were also reports in 2014 that famous rapper Yo Yo Honey Singh, who had isolated himself from the world, for more than a year, was in a Chandigarh rehab.

    In 2001, actor Fardeen Khan was arrested for alleged possession of cocaine. He underwent a detoxification course at a state-run hospital and filed an application seeking immunity in the case, which was granted in March 2012. 

    (With ANI inputs)

  • Shah Rukh Khan’s son, two others sent to NCB custody till October 7

    By Online Desk

    Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan Khan, Arbaaz Merchant, and Munmun Dhamecha, who were arrested by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) on Sunday in connection with the seizure of banned drugs onboard a cruise ship off the Mumbai coast, were sent to further NCB custody till October 7.

    All the eight accused were produced before the court on Monday after their medical examination. NCB had sought custody for Aryan till October 11. It had added that ‘shocking, incriminating material’ was found on his phone.

    “Prima facie investigation conducted by the NCB reveals that there is incriminating material in the form of WhatsApp chats and so on that clearly shows the nexus with the arrested accused (Aryan Khan and two others) with suppliers and peddlers on a regular basis,” the NCB said in its remand note.

    ALSO READ | With you, SRK: Bollywood supports Shah Rukh Khan after son Aryan’s arrest in drugs case 

    NCB’s advocate Advait Sethna sought custody of the accused for two days on the ground that the investigation is at a nascent stage and more raids are being carried out to apprehend the supplier of drugs.

    Besides Aryan Khan, the arrested accused are identified as Munmun Dhamecha, Arbaaz Merchant, Ismeet Singh, Mohak Jaswal, Gomit Chopra, Nupur Sarika, and Vikrant Chhokar, an NCB official said.

    Aryan Khan, Dhamecha, and Merchant were produced before a metropolitan magistrate’s court here earlier in the day which remanded them in NCB custody till October 4.

    Aryan Khan has been booked under sections 27 (punishment for consumption of any narcotic drug or psychotropic substance), 8C (produce, manufacture, possess, sell or purchase of drugs) and other relevant provisions of the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act (NDPS).

    He and seven others were detained late Saturday night by NCB sleuths after they raided the cruise ship on its way from Mumbai to Goa.

  • After busting drugs party, NCB searches cruise ship on its return to Mumbai

    By PTI

    MUMBAI: The Narcotics Control Bureau searched a cruise ship on its return to Mumbai on Monday morning, two days after a drugs party onboard the vessel was busted off the city coast, an NCB official said.

    The NCB had arrested Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan Khan and seven others, including two women, after the raid on the Goa-bound ship of the Cordelia Cruises company.

    On Monday, the NCB got information that the ship returned to the city after two days.

    Hence, NCB officials including its zonal director Sameer Wankhede reached the cruise terminal and searches were underway onboard the vessel, the official said.

    On Saturday evening, an NCB team, led by Wankhede, had raided the ship based on a tip-off that a party was scheduled onboard.

    The sleuths seized 13 gm of cocaine, five gm of MD, 21 gm of charas and 22 pills of Ecstasy and Rs 1.33 lakh, an official earlier said.

    During the raid, over 20 officials of the Mumbai NCB had boarded the ship posing as customers.

    ALSO READ | With you, SRK: Bollywood supports Shah Rukh Khan after son Aryan’s arrest in drugs case 

    There were 1,800 people on the ship but after checking all were asked to go except the eight, including Aryan Khan, the official said.

    Besides Aryan Khan, the arrested accused were identified as Munmun Dhamecha, Arbaaz Merchant, Ismeet Singh, Mohak Jaswal, Gomit Chopra, Nupur Sarika, and Vikrant Chhokar, the official said.

    A special holiday court had earlier remanded Aryan Khan, Munmun Dhamecha and Arbaaz Merchant in the NCB’s custody till Monday.

    The anti-drugs agency had kept a close watch on the cruise ship event for 15-20 days after receiving information that a drug party will be organised.

    After confirmation, the NCB conducted the raid on Saturday, officials earlier said.

    They had said the NCB may question officials of Delhi-based event management company Namas’cray, registered as Caneplus Trading Private Limited, and officials of the cruise company, Cordelia Cruises.

    The (Delhi-based) firm was tasked with the management of the event onboard Cordelia Cruises’ Empress ship, which was supposed to take place from October 2 to October 4.

    All known organisers of the event are now under the scanner of the NCB, an official of the anti-drug agency earlier said.

    The Narcotics Control Bureau is likely to summon officials of the cruise company and the event management firm in connection with the seizure of banned drugs on the ship, an NCB official said.

    The NCB will now determine whether any of the organisers had any knowledge about the drugs being brought and consumed onboard during the three-day cruise in the Arabian Sea.

    Three additional directors of the event management company are now under the lens of the agency, the official added.

    The cruise company in a statement on Sunday said it had nothing to do with this incident.

  • Two foreigners arrested in Armaan Kohli drug case

    By ANI

    MUMBAI: Two foreign drug peddlers were arrested on Tuesday after the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) carried out raids in Mumbai and Nala Sopara following the arrest of Bollywood actor Armaan Kohli in a drug case.

    According to NCB, the arrested foreign drug peddler is an accomplice of Ajay Raju Singh, an alleged drug peddler who was taken into custody on Saturday before Kohli’s arrest. This foreigner accomplice would allegedly transport drugs from Colombia to India. During the raid following Kohli’s and Singh’s arrests, some more peddlers were also detained and drugs allegedly recovered from them.

    Bollywood actor Armaan Kohli was arrested on Saturday following NCB’s raid on his Mumbai residence and seizure of drugs, after which the actor, on Monday, was sent to the NCB’s custody till September 1.

    The 49-year-old actor has been booked under Sections 21(a), 27(a), 28, 29, 30, and 35 of the NDPS (Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances) Act.

    During the raid, the NCB had allegedly recovered a small quantity of Cocaine drug from Kohli’s residence, after which he was taken for further interrogation. At the time of his arrest, he was found in an inebriated condition, informed NCB officials.

    “After the raid, actor Armaan Kohli gave ambiguous answers to questions put up by NCB. He was then taken to custody for questioning at the NCB office”, informed NCB Zonal Director (Mumbai) Sameer Wankhede.

    The investigating agency first nabbed Ajay Raju Singh from the Haji Ali area in Mumbai and recovered 25 grams of MD drugs from his possession.

    The accused is an old history-sheeter and Armaan Kohli’s name came up in his interrogation, after which NCB raided the actor’s house. 

  • Dawood Ibrahim’s brother Iqbal Kaskar held by NCB in drugs case

    By PTI
    MUNBAI: The Narcotics Control Bureau on Wednesday arrested Iqbal Kaskar, the brother of fugitive underworld don Dawood Ibrahim, in a drugs case, an NCB official said.

    Kaskar’s involvement was found in connection with the seizure of 15 kg of hashish, a contraband, following which he was taken into custody, the official said without divulging any further details.

    In 2017, Kaskar was arrested by police in neighbouring Thane in an extortion case.

    On Wednesday, after his arrest in the drugs case, he was brought to the NCB’s office at Ballard Estate in south Mumbai, the official said.

    The NCB earlier this year busted a drug syndicate at Nagpada in Mumbai which was run by an associate of Dawood Ibrahim.

    Kaskar was deported from the United Arab Emirates in 2003.

    He was said to be operating his brother’s real estate business in Mumbai.

    The Thane police had earlier booked him under the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime (MCOCA) Act.

  • NCB questions two former domestic workers of late Sushant Singh Rajput

    By PTI
    MUMBAI: The NCB on Sunday questioned two former domestic workers of Sushant Singh Rajput in a drugs case linked to the Bollywood actor’s death last year at its Mumbai zonal office, an official said.

    The anti-drugs agency had issued summons against the duo, identified as Neeraj and Keshav, for questioning, he said.

    He said the duo came on the radar of the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) after Rajput’s flatmate Siddharth Pithani was arrested from Hyderabad on Friday.

    “We located the duo and brought them to the office for questioning. They are still at the office,” the official told PTI.

    Pithani was Rajput’s friend and was also staying with the late actor at his Bandra residence in suburban Mumbai.

    According to his statement to Mumbai Police, Pithani was among the first to see the actor’s hanging body when Rajput (34) allegedly committed suicide on June 14, 2020.

    The NCB began a separate probe when some WhatsApp chats of the late actor indicated drug use.

    Rajput’s former girlfriend Rhea Chakraborty, her brother Showik, and the actor’s staff members Samuel Miranda and Deepesh Sawant were arrested in the drug case last year and later got bail.