NCB raids Imtiyaz Khatri's office, home as part of cruise ship drugs investigation

The Narcotics Control Bureau is reportedly raiding the Bandra office and home of producer Imtiyaz Khatri who shot to the limelight last year as he was accused of peddling drugs to late Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput. Sushant's former manager Shruti Modi had then declared him as one of the 'top suppliers' of drugs in Bollywood. He has also reached the NCB office for questioning this morning although no details have come out.

The raid is connected to the Cordelia cruise ship scandal on October 2 in which 9 people were arrested with relation to a drugs bust, most notably Aryan Khan, the son of Bollywood superstar Shahrukh Khan and several of his close friends. After the raid, the NCB's Mumbai zonal unit started a crackdown on drug peddlers connected with the arrested persons.

The NCB has claimed in court that hard drugs like MDMA and cocaine were recovered during the raid and that Aryan Khan's WhatsApp chats show 'incriminating' evidence of connections to the international drug trade. Khan's lawyer however had claimed that no drugs were recovered directly from his person. Khan was denied bail in the case.

Meanwhile, NCB's Wankhede said on Friday that the agency and the prosecution will take the cruise ship raid case to a logical conclusion. "Our case is strong and will be presented in the sessions court," Wankhede said.