“Three people were let go. One of them is Rishab Sachdeva. He’s said to be a brother-in-law of BJP leader Mohit Bharatiya,” Mr Malik claimed.
Shah Rukh Khan’s son, Aryan, and three others were arrested by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) on October 3 afternoon after hours of interrogation following a drug bust on board a cruise ship off the Mumbai coast. Five others were also detained for questioning, and were later arrested. According to NCB officials, 13g of cocaine, 5g of MD, 21g of charas and 22 pills of MDMA and Rs. 1.33 lakh in cash was recovered.
The NCB clearly stated that no drugs were recovered from the possession of Aryan Khan, while only 6 grams of charas was found in the possession of Arbaaz Merchant. However, according to the agency, there is incriminating material found through Aryan’s WhatsApp chats with drug peddlers.
All the 8 people detained from the cruise continue to remain in custody.
Explosive allegations
However, what if you were told that there were actually 11 people detained by the NCB from the cruise? What if you were told that the agency let go three people?
Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader and Minister in Maharashtra Cabinet, Nawab Malik, on Saturday raised serious allegations against the anti-narcotics agency. Mr Malik claimed that total of 11 people were arrested from the cruise party. “However, three people were let go. One of them is Rishab Sachdeva. He’s said to be a brother-in-law of BJP leader Mohit Bharatiya. Other two were Pratik Gaba and Amir Furniturewala,” Mr Malik claimed.
Sensational allegation by NCP leader @nawabmalikncp. Total 11 people were detained in the #cruisedrugscase. But 3 were let go.
One of them #RishabhSachdeva is said to be Brother In Law of BJP leader #MohitBharatiya. Other two are Pratik Gaba and Amir Furniturewala.@HWNewsEnglish pic.twitter.com/ss6MwWOyN5— Arti_Ghargi (@arti_ghargi) October 9, 2021
Mohit Bharatiya, according to his Twitter bio, is an ex-president of BJP’s Mumbai youth wing and ex-secretary of Mumbai BJP.
Mr Malik also claimed that Pratik Gaba and Amir Furniturewala invited Aryan Khan to the cruise party.
The NCP leader alleged that calls were made from state to the central BJP leaders to let Rishabh, Pratik and Amir go. He also demanded that NCB officer Sameer Wankhede’s call records should be checked. Wankhed was the incharge of this raid on cruise party.
"Calls were made from State to Central BJP leaders to let Rishabh, Prateek and Amir go. #NCB officer #SameerWankhede's call records should be checked."@nawabmalikncp @NCPspeaks#cruisedrugscase #AryanKhanDrugCase pic.twitter.com/bntStWE94l
— Arti_Ghargi (@arti_ghargi) October 9, 2021
“The NCB raid is fake. Their target was Shah Rukh Khan. The raid is a conspiracy. The three who were let go had invited Aryan Khan. This is only a publicity stunt. This was a set up to defame,” Mr Malik claimed.
Had exposed BJP-links earlier
The NCP leader had earlier made headlines for explosive revelations after he presented photos and videos to show that a local BJP leader and another history sheeter who is absconding in a cheating case in Pune were involved in the raid.
“Here’s the video of Kiran P Gosavi and Manish Bhanushali entering the NCB office the same night the cruise ship was raided,” Nawab Malik captioned the video while sharing it on Twitter on Thursday.
According to NCB Deputy Director-General Gyaneshwar Singh, Kiran P Gosavi and Manish Bhanushali are the NCB’s witnesses during and after the raid that led to the arrests of Aryan Khan, Arbaaz Merchantt and several others.
However, Nawab Malik claimed that Gosavi identified himself as ‘private detective’, and was also absconding in a cheating case from 2008. Mr Malik said Manish Bhanushali was a BJP worker. Bhanushali later admitted that he is a BJP worker and was with NCB officials at the Mumbai International Cruise Terminal during the raid.
“I received information about a drug party on October 1. My friend suggested that I approach the NCB. The agency had little information and we added to it. I was not aware that Shah Rukh Khan’s son will be present there,” Bhanushali told India Today.
On Saturday, Nawab Malik told the press: “Kiran Gosavi the person who was there during the panchnama is an accused in multiple cases how can a person with criminal charges be a part of a government proceeding?”
“BJP is using NCB for their own agenda and the entire narrative is to defame The Maharashtra Government and Bollywood!” Mr Malik said.
The negative coverage
In the last one year, this is not first time that Bollywood and drugs connection has ruled the prime time of television channels. Earlier in 2020, similar dramatic arrests took place in the aftermath of actor Sushant Singh Rajput’s death. Though the whole debate started with a narrative that there was a conspiracy behind the actor’s death, what followed on TV was a horrendous display of vulterism in which various bollywood celebrities were hounded by TV reporters, who asked them very personal questions just because the NCB had summoned them in the case. Rajput’s girlfriend Rhea Chakraborty was harassed, with many news channels presenting her as the culprit behind the death. She was taken in custody for a small amount of illegal substances, and was later released on bail. No other actors or actresses summoned for NCB questioning were arrested.
The Aryan Khan’s case has been a similar phenomenon. There is no death involved in this case, but the bollywood part looks familiar. Shah Rukh Khan has already been targeted over his son’s arrest. He’s been called out for not bringing up his child well. Final judgements are being called in drawing rooms on the 23 years old’s future, despite the fact that he was not in possesion of any illegal substances at the time of his arrest.
NCB answerable
After allegations raised by Nawab Malik, it becomes important to ask whether the NCB raid on cruise party was pre-planned to create a similar “bollywood doing drugs” narrative? Was NCB aware beforehand that Shah Rukh’s son will be on the ship? Was this raid planned to catch Aryan Khan and in turn to create a controversy around Shah Rukh Khan, who’s somehow managed to not tweet handouts from the PMO?
The explosive revelations by the NCP leader, if true, not only show that private people, including a BJP worker were involved in this raid, but also three people, including BJP politician’s relative and two others who invited Aryan Khan on cruise, were released by the agency.
These allegations raise serious questions on the credibility of the NCB. In its quest to grab eyeballs and recognition, has NCB indulged in staging a fake raid? Was this done with an intention to particularly target the bollywood actor? Hope we get answers.
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