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NAWAB MALIK CALLS CASE AGAINST ARYAN A ‘FORGERY’; COURT SENDS 4 MORE TO NCB CUSTODY

A Mumbai court on Wednesday sent four more persons, who were arrested in connection with a drug seizure on a cruise ship off the Mumbai coast, to Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) custody till 14 October. The four persons—Gopal Jee Anand, Samir Sehgal, Manav Singhal and Bhaskar Arora—were arrested by NCB on Tuesday, and produced before […]

A Mumbai court on Wednesday sent four more persons, who were arrested in connection with a drug seizure on a cruise ship off the Mumbai coast, to Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) custody till 14 October. The four persons—Gopal Jee Anand, Samir Sehgal, Manav Singhal and Bhaskar Arora—were arrested by NCB on Tuesday, and produced before the court today. The NCB on Tuesday had said that 16 people had been arrested in connection with drugs seizures on a cruise ship off the Mumbai coast so far.

Eight persons, including Aryan Khan, Arbaz Seth Merchant, Munmun Dhamecha, Vikrant Chhoker, Ismeet Singh, Nupur Sarika, Gomit Chopra and Mohak Jaswal, were produced before Mumbai’s Esplanade Court on Monday which remanded them to NCB custody till 7 October. Meanwhile, four others—Abdul Qadir Sheikh, Shreyas Nair, Manish Darya, and Avin Sahu—were remanded to NCB custody till 11 October by the court on Tuesday. An NCB team busted an alleged drugs party on the Cordelia Cruise ship which was on its way to Goa at mid-sea on Saturday night.

Meanwhile, Maharashtra Cabinet Minister and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Nawab Malik on Wednesday alleged that the NCB raid onboard a Mumbai cruise was “forgery”, and BJP has misused the central agency to frame Aryan Khan. Malik alleged that BJP leaders are part of the NCB raid that took place onboard the Mumbai cruise on Saturday night. Malik claimed that a person named K.P. Gosavi was seen bringing in Aryan Khan to the NCB office. He also clicked selfie with Aryan, Malik told reporters. After the selfie went viral, NCB released a statement saying that the person has nothing to do with the agency. Malik shared a screenshot of Gosavi’s Facebook profile, wherein the latter claims to be a “private detective agent”.

Malik added that another video shows a person escorting Arbaaz Merchant, who has been held along with Aryan, to the NCB office. He alleged that the said person is Manish Bhanushali, vice president of some wing of BJP. Malik also showed photos of the men with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, Devendra Fadnavis and others. Malik demanded that the NCB should answer as to what private people like Gosavi and Bhanushali were doing during a high-profile raid.

Addressing the media here, the NCP leader alleged that “not even a single gram of drugs was seized on the cruise or at the terminal.” “Aryan Khan’s arrest is a forgery. For the last one month, information was being circulated to crime reporters that the next target is actor Shah Rukh Khan,” said Malik

“Not even one gram of drugs was seized on the cruise, not even on the terminal. The drug was not even found with any one of the accused. Whatever the video of the sample has been shared by the NCB, it has been made in the Zonal Director’s office which is against the procedure of seizure,” he added.

Further referring to the Sushant Singh Rajput case, the NCP leader said that attempts were made to malign the name of Bollywood. “The FIR was registered in Bihar and the Bihar government had transferred the case to the CBI. Then the news came that he was murdered because of drugs. The news was planted. Attempts were made to malign the film industry. Film stars were summoned one after the other,” he said. Malik said that “the perception was created that the entire Bollywood in Mumbai has become a nexus of drug rackets”.

Reacting to the allegations, the NCB told media that the two individuals named by Malik are independent witnesses. One person in question, Manish Bhanushali, said that he will file a defamation case against Malik and that BJP has nothing to do with the arrests.

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