Witness who alleged extortion in Aryan case dies, probe on

Prabhakar Sail, 36, passed away after suffering a heart attack. “I was there all the time when this occurred. There's nothing fishy,” said his lawyer Tushar Khandare.

Prabhakar Sail, a witness of the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) in the high-profile drugs-on-cruise case involving Aryan Khan, has died of a heart attack, police said on Saturday. Soon after the report broke out, Maharashtra home minister Dilip Walse Patil ordered a probe in into the death, terming it suspicious.

File photo of NCB's independent witness Prabhakar Sail and his advocate Tushar Kandhare in Mumbai,

“Prabhakar Sail, 36, died of a heart attack at his house in Mahul (in Mumbai) on Friday evening,” a police official said. He was rushed to a hospital where he was declared dead, the official added.

Calling the sudden death “suspicious”, Patil ordered director general of police Rajnish Seth to conduct a probe. “Police will obtain preliminary information in the death case before going ahead with the investigation.”

Sail’s lawyer Tushar Khandare, however, said his family does not suspect foul play.

“He was feeling uneasy the previous day. But he ignored the signs. On Friday, after he suffered a mild heart attack, he visited Chandra hospital in Chembur. After seeing his ECG report, the doctor recommended him to immediately get admitted. During treatment at the hospital, he suffered another heart attack, causing his death,” Khandare said.

“I was there all the time when this occurred. There is nothing fishy,” he said. “After the government ordered a probe, the family gave its consent for conducting post-mortem. Once the family is handed over the body, the last rites will be performed at Andheri.”

Sail was under tremendous mental pressure as he had been jobless for a long time and that could be one of the factors that may have triggered a heart attack, the lawyer said.

“The last time he spoke to our elder daughter on Wednesday, he sounded fine. Suddenly on Friday, someone called and gave us Sail’s news,” Sail’s wife Pooja said.

“Initially, we thought someone was playing an April fool prank, and we did not believe it. Then one of our relatives visited Sail and informed us ....”

“I don’t think there is anything that needs to be probed... I have seen the CCTV footage of the hospital when he was being admitted.”

An accidental death report had been registered at RCF police station in Chembur and the body had been sent to JJ hospital for autopsy, deputy commissioner of police Krishnakant Upadhyay said. “Once the autopsy report arrives, senior officers will decide on the further course of action regarding the inquiry,” he added.

Sail is survived by his mother, wife, and two children.

Expressing the possibility of sabotage, the Nationalist Congress Party, part of the ruling alliance in the state, has demanded a probe by the Crime Investigation Department (CID) in the death. “The fake case built in a drugs-on-cruise raid by NCB was exposed by state minister Nawab Malik and Sail was a key witness in it,” party spokesperson Mahesh Tapase said.

The case pertains to the arrest of Aryan Khan during an NCB raid on a cruise ship off the Mumbai coast on October 3, 2021. Aryan and 17 others later got bail.

Sail, who claimed to be the bodyguard of another NCB witness KP Gosavi, had alleged in an affidavit that he had heard Gosavi discussing a ₹25 crore pay-off deal to let off Aryan in the case.