The Aryan Khan drug case got murkier on October 24 as allegations of corruption against the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) zonal officer Sameer Wankhede emerged.
While the anti-drugs agency has denied the charges, the story isn't so straight. Kiran Gosavi, who is reportedly a private investigator, was a witness for the state in the Aryan drug case but is currently absconding and reportedly turned hostile.
Gosavi is one of the nine independent witnesses in the cruise ship raid and alleged recovery of drugs, in which Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan's son Aryan was arrested earlier this month.
According to a report in Times of India, Gosavi's bodyguard and driver Prabhakar Rohoji Sail alleged that he saw his boss take Rs5 million from an individual. In a video message that’s now doing the rounds, Sail claims that Gosavi — who was spotted taking a selfie after Aryan was detained on October 2 — has greased his palms with money.
“I worked as a bodyguard of Kiran Gosavi. I assisted him during the Mumbai cruise drugs case ... On the night of the raid, I reached the place around 9.45am. He asked me to stand near a car and somebody gave me two bags filled with cash for Gosavi. I took it to Vashi at Gosavi’s home and gave it to him. Right after this, I saw that Kiran Gosavi packing bags and leaving for somewhere,” claimed Sail in the video.
Sail, who claims to be a witness and fears for his life, stated in a notarised affidavit that he overheard Gosavi say that "you put a bomb of Rs 25 crores (Rs250 million), let's settle for Rs18 crores (Rs180m) and give Rs8 crores (Rs80m) to Sameer Wakhende."
Wankhede, who has been accused of targeting Bollywood and orchestrating an attack against the Maharashtra government, has vehemently denied the charges.
Aryan’s arrest has slid into a political slug fest with members of Maharashtra’s Shiv Sena and the NCP alleging that the 23-year-old’s arrest was motivated to tarnish the image of their state.
Aryan’s arrest, whose bail was rejected twice and is currently lodged in Mumbai’s Arthur Road Jail, has rocked Bollywood. His close friend and actress Ananya Pandey has also been questioned by the NCB for several hours over supplying and consuming drugs.
Director Hansal Mehta took to Twitter to call for the resignation of NCB Zonal director Wankhede.
“Sameer Wankhede must resign until these (serious) charges are disproved. Why should the onus of proving innocence only be upon those he arrests,” tweeted Mehta.
Earlier this week, Mumbai’s Special Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) court extended the judicial custody of Aryan and others till October 30 in connection with the cruise ship drug case.
