NCB let off BJP leader's relative in rave party raid: Nawab Malik

Mumbai: In a stunning revelation, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) on Saturday alleged that the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) let off three people in the cruise ship drug haul case, alleging the involvement of the BJP.

Addressing media-persons, NCP National Spokesperson and Minority Affairs Minister Nawab Malik said that a total of 11 people including Aryan Khan, son of Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan were detained, after allegedly seizing drugs from the Goa-bound ship

Malik alleged that Rishabh Sachdev, the nephew of a BJP leader Mohit Bharatiya (formerly, Kamboj), Amir Furniturewala and Pratik Gabha were allowed to go by the NCB officials later that night. He demanded that the NCB must reply why the three accused were released from detention.

Elaborating further, he said that Aryan Khan had been invited to the ship party by the trio of Sachdev, Furniturewala and Gabha.

Malik said that the same three persons who had brought Aryan Khan to the party were allowed to go. He remarked that it proves that the entire fraudulent raid on the ship was a pre-planned conspiracy to lure and trap high-profile individuals.

The NCP leader further said that several BJP leaders from New Delhi and Maharashtra made frantic calls to the NCB Zonal Director Sameer Wankhede for the release of the three detainees, and they were allowed to go late last Saturday (October 2).

"Who were the persons calling up the NCB that night and why? The Maharashtra and Mumbai police must probe the call detail records (CDR) data of Wankhede plus Sachdev, Furniturewala and Gabha," Malik said.

Revealing another aspect, the Maharashtra Minister said that a BJP leader and a so-called 'private detective' Kiran P. Gosavi had signed on two 'panchnamas' giving different addresses of Thane and Navi Mumbai.

"Moreover, while one 'panchnama' of 4-pages was handwritten by a NCB official Satish Kumar, the other 9-page 'panchnama' was typed by Ashish R. Prasad and was a computer printout. How did this happen?" Malik questioned.

He pointed out that normally, the 'panchas' are said to be prominent or respectable persons, but in this case, the NCB got at least 2 politicians - Manish Bhanushali and Gosavi - the latter wanted by the Pune Police.

Reacting to Malik's revelation, Shiv Sena leader Kishore Tiwari, accorded a MoS status, said that the series of developments unmasked so far indicate that the NCB has become a 'Team B of BJP'

"I reiterate the Maharashtra Police should immediately arrest Sameer Wankhede for flouting all norms to conduct such bogus operations involving famous personalities to remain in media glare and divert attention from the drug seizure at Mundra Port," Tiwari demanded.

Responding, the BJP Leader of Opposition (Council) Pravin Darekar dismissed the NCP's allegations saying it was intended to seek publicity and arising out of frustration as Malik's son-in-law was nabbed by the NCB in a drug case.

Threatening to make more revelations in the coming days, Malik reiterated that the entire ship raid was 'fake' and a planned conspiracy to trap some prominent youngsters, get huge publicity, defame Bollywood and discredit the Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress MVA government.