Aryan Khan drugs case: NCB orders internal inquiry into Sail’s allegations

Aryan Khan drugs case: Before ordering an internal inquiry on Monday, NCB rejected the extortion allegations levelled by Prabhakar Sail and cited Sameer Wankhede’s rebuttal

MUMBAI: The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) on Monday ordered an internal inquiry into claims by Prabhakar Sail, a witness in the cruise ship drugs raid involving Aryan Khan, son of actor Shah Rukh Khan, that he overheard his employer, KP Gosvai, speak on the phone about extorting ₹25 crore to settle the case, and that an amount of ₹8 crore was supposedly to be paid to a senior NCB official.

NCB zonal director Sameer Wankhede has found himself in the middle of a controversy after Prabhakar Sail, a witness in the cruise ship drugs bust involving Aryan Khan, alleged an extortion racket. (PTI)

An NCB statement put out within hours of the allegations surfacing on social media on Sunday rebutted the allegations. On Monday, NCB officials said a three-member panel led by the agency’s chief vigilance officer and deputy director general Gyaneshwar Singh will inquire into the allegations.

Prabhakar Sail, who claimed to have worked as a bodyguard of KP Gosavi who was seen with federal drugs enforcement agency officials at the October 3 raid on a cruise ship, also said in a notarised affidavit that he was forced to sign blank papers on that night.

Gosavi, one of the witnesses in the case, could not be contacted for his comments. He is on the run and the Mumbai police, which have issued a lookout notice on him.

Sail allegedly heard Gosavi and another person discussing an amount of ₹25 crore, out of which ₹8 crore was supposedly to be paid to a senior NCB official, he said in a notarised affidavit. Sail said he overheard Gosavi talking to someone by the name of Sam D’Souza on the phone after Aryan Khan was brought to the NCB office following the October 3 raid. Gosavi suggested that a demand of ₹25 crore be made which could be negotiated to ₹18 crore, as they “have to give ₹eight crore to Sameer Wankhede”, the zonal director of NCB.

Wankhede has repeatedly rejected the charge since Sunday when the allegations first emerged. On Sunday, he told reporters that “we will give a befitting reply” to the allegations, and wrote to Mumbai police commissioner Hemant Nagrale to request that no precipitate legal action is carried out with ulterior motives to frame him.

NCB sleuths on October 2 conducted searches at the International Cruise Terminal at Green Gate in Mumbai and apprehended several individuals set to board Cordelia cruise leaving for a holiday cruise to Goa, including Aryan Khan, his friend Arbaaz Merchant and model Munmun Dhamecha for possession and consumption of banned drugs. The agency officials also searched rooms of some of the guests on board the cruise ship and seized multiple drugs in small quantities.

Subsequently, the agency has arrested 12 more persons in connection with the drug seizures.