What started as a high-profile drug bust case in early October has now turned into a full-fledged political slugfest, thanks to our politicians.
What started as a high-profile drug bust case in early October has now turned into a political slugfest in over one month, thanks to leaders from both the ruling NCP and the opposition BJP in Maharashtra.
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.
However, what followed later was a month long quest for the superstar’s son to get bail, despite the NCB not charging him for possesion or consumption.
Aryan Khan, son of superstar Shah Rukh Khan, being escorted by the NCB officials.
As the case progressed, it also sparked a series of revelations by multiple people involved in the case. These revelations were of serious nature and raised questions over the credibility of the anti-drug agency. The man at the heart of this expose was NCP leader and Maharashtra minister- Nawab Malik.
In the beginning, 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,” he said.
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. Wankhede was the incharge of this raid on cruise party.
Since then, Mr Malik has presented several testimonies and documents in an attempt to show Mr Wankhede in bad light. HW News has not independently verified the authenticity of the claims made by Mr Malik.
Nawab Malik, a minister in Maharashtra cabinet, has made serious of allegations against the NCB and its zonal director Sameer Wankhede.
KP Gosavi and Bhanushali
In another explosive revelation related to the cruise party case, the NCP leader told reporters that a person by the name of KP Gosavi was seen bringing in Aryan Khan to the NCB office in Mumbai. Referring to a viral photo, Nawab Malik said, “He [Gosavi] also clicked a selfie with Aryan Khan. The NCB’s Delhi office later released a statement saying that he has nothing to do with NCB.”
He added that there is another video showing one Manish Bhanushali bringing Aryan Khan’s friend Arbaaz Merchantt to the NCB office. “This person is Manish Bhanushali, who is a vice president of some wing of the BJP,” Nawab Malik said.
Later, it came to the light that KP Govasi was wanted in an old case of fraud in Pune and was absconding since then. He was apprehended by the Pune police as the Aryan Khan case started getting murkier after Mr Malik’s claims. Bhanushali, the other person Mr Malik named in his allegations, also accepted that he was a BJP worker.
Since then, couple of independent witnesses in the case have given contrasting accounts of the events that do not match the ones cited by the NCB. Some even claimed that Shah Rukh Khan’s manager was in contact with KP Gosavi, who had asked for 15 crore rupees for Aryan Khan’s release in connivance with Sameer Wankhede.
KP Gosavi’s infamous selfie with Aryan Khan inside NCB custody.
Fight gets personal
Mr Malik continued his fight against Mr Wankhede, the NCB zonal director, as he released Mr Wankhede’s birth certificate, and claimed that he was actually a Muslim by birth and had produced a bogus caste certificate to get the government job. Mr Malik also claimed that Mr Wankhede’s father, who goes by the name of Dyaneshwar Wankhede, is actually Dawood Wankhede and had converted to Islam before getting married to Mr Wankhede’s mother.
This was the first time when the Aryan Khan case started looking like a matter of personal enmity, with players involved in it trying to settle old scores. The BJP and its supporters claimed that Mr Malik was targeting Mr Wankhede because the IRS officer had earlier arrested Mr Malik’s son-in-law in a similar case related to drugs.
Though there is overwhelming probability that the minister was targeting the officer to settle the old scores, it is also true that some of the exposes by Mr Malik were damning in nature and questioned the fairness with which the agency conducted its procedures.
Even after Aryan Khan was released on bail by the Bombay HC, Mr Malik continued his attack on the NCB and the BJP, who he claimed planned the entire conspiracy.
Mr Malik claimed that Mohit Bharatiya, also known as Mohit Kamboj, was the mastermind of the drugs-on-cruise case and that he partnered the Narcotics Control Bureau’s (NCB) Mumbai zonal director Sameer Wankhede in demanding ransom.
Mr Malik said the sensational drugs bust case off the Goa-bound cruise was a case of kidnapping and ransom and not what it appeared to be. He said Aryan did not buy a ticket for the cruise party, but it was Pratik Gaba and Amir Furniturewala who brought him there.
I had demanded an S.I.T probe to investigate Sameer Dawood Wankhede for kidnapping of & ransom demand from Aryan Khan.
Now 2 S.I.Ts are constituted (state & centre), let us see who brings out the skeletons from the closet of Wankhede and exposes him and his nefarious private army— Nawab Malik نواب ملک नवाब मलिक (@nawabmalikncp) November 6, 2021
Fadnavis on Malik’s radar
If the personal attacks on the NCB officer were not enough, Mr Malik started another controversy by taking former Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis head-on.
He tweeted a photograph of alleged drug peddler Jaydeep Rana with Mr. Fadnavis’ wife, Amruta, saying ‘Come, let’s talk about the relations between BJP and drug peddlers today.’
“I have released a photograph of a person named Jaideep Rana who is presently in Sabarmati jail of Delhi. He has been arrested in a case of drug trafficking. He was the financial head of the song River Anthem released by Amruta Fadnavis in which Devendra Fadnavis too was featured. The drug business grew under his tenure,” the NCP leader said, trying to indirectly link the BJP leader with those involved in drugs trade.
He also tweeted a screenshot of the description of the River Anthem song, where Rana has been mentioned as the Finance Head. According to sources, the mention has been removed since the allegations.
Details of 'River Song' which shows Jaydeep Rana as Finance Head.
Song sung by Ms. Amruta Fadnavis
Video shows Devendra Fadnavis and Sudhir Mungatiwar as actorshttps://t.co/LddkleoTaQ pic.twitter.com/lWnq2d4wF6— Nawab Malik نواب ملک नवाब मलिक (@nawabmalikncp) November 1, 2021
Fadnavis reacts
Replying to Mr. Malik, Mr. Fadnavis observed, “I will be exposing his underworld connections post-Diwali and will give all the evidence to NCP president Sharad Pawar.” Those who lived in the glass house should not throw stones at others, he added.
As promised by him, Mr Fadnavis today appeared in a press conference where he accused Malik and his family of purchasing a 2.80 acre plot from Mohammad Salim Patel, a “front man” of Dawood Ibrahim’s sister Haseena Parker, and from Badshah Khan, a 1993 blast convict, in 2005.
“There is a direct connection with the underworld. I have documents of five property deals. Four properties purchased connected with the underworld. I will ascertain which appropriate authorities, whether it is police, ED, NIA, and hand it over to them,” Fadnavis said.
“Malik did business with people involved in blasts that shook Mumbai. He purchased land from convicts of the case at rates cheaper than market prices. Was this deal to save prime land from being forfeited under TADA law?” the BJP leader said.
Nawab Malik has dealings with people from the Underworld people convicted in '93 Mumbai bomb blasts case. He purchased land from convicts of the case on rates cheaper than market rates. Was this deal to save prime land from being forfeited under TADA law?: Devendra Fadnavis, BJP pic.twitter.com/TDe0qfMmGc
— ANI (@ANI) November 9, 2021
Malik’s ‘hydrogen bomb’ warning
After Fadnavis’ press conference today, Nawab Malik said he will drop a “hydrogen bomb” on Maharashtra Leader of Opposition Devendra Fadnavis on Wednesday. Responding to allegations levelled by the BJP leader against his family, Malik said he will “expose” Fadnavis’ alleged “links with the underworld”.
The case that began in early October has now deviated from the actual issue and another reason for accusations and counter-accusations between two political parties. However, the important question to ask amid this daily drama is: What is the point of all this? A sitting minister in cabinet, who should rather be handling his ministries and working for the people, and a leader of opposition, who should rather be raising voices of common people, are fighting against each other for reasons known only to them. If any of the allegations made by Fadnavis are true, will there be any action against Mr Malik? If any of the allegations that Mr Malik will raise tomorrow against Fadnavis are true, will Fadnavis face music from law enforcement agencies? The chances of the two aforementioned developments are meager. The fight, however, is only to score brownie points in the dirty game, the game of perception.
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