Why no action was taken against organisers of cruise rave party: Nawab Malik

Senior Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader and minister Nawab Malik on Thursday asked why there was no action taken against Fashion TV’s senior executive Kashiff Khan, who had organised the cruise rave party

Senior Nationalist Congress Party (NCB) leader and minister Nawab Malik on Thursday asked why there was no action taken against Fashion TV’s senior executive Kashiff Khan, who had organised the cruise rave party. Malik said that he has been let off probably because he is a friend of the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) zonal director Sameer Wankhede. He has also questioned why the cruise ship was released despite having organised the party without any permission.

Nawab Malik has questioned why the cruise ship was released and why there was no action taken against Fashion TV’s senior executive Kashiff Khan, who had organised the cruise rave party. (PTI)

Khan is the managing director of Fashion TV India, according to his LinkedIn profile. Hindustan Times was unable to reach Khan for comment.

“NCB claimed that a rave party was about to happen at Cordelia cruise. It was organised by Fashion TV and its India head Kashiff Khan without any permission, then why the cruise was allowed to sail (even after the raid). What is the relation between the organiser and Sameer Wankhede and why no action was taken against him? I am expecting answers from (Sameer) Wankhede,” Malik told reporters and questioned Wankhede’s integrity.

Malik has also questioned the background of the organiser. “Why over 1,300 people present at the cruise were not scanned if there was a rave party and only 13 were targeted? We believe the entire case is related to the organiser, who is also Wankhede’s friend,” Malik said.

On Wednesday, Malik alleged that Wankhede let an international drug lord, present in the rave party off the hook and instead framed “certain individuals”.

Malik has levelled a series of allegations against Wankhede since Aryan Khan, son of Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan, was arrested by an NCB team that claimed to have busted an alleged drugs party on the Cordelia Cruise ship, which was on its way to Goa on October 3, off the Mumbai coast. A total of 20 people, including two Nigerian nationals, have been arrested so far, in the case. On Thursday, he again reiterated that it is was a false case, after the Bombay high court granted bail to Aryan and two others.

“Aryan Khan and two others have been granted bail in the cruise raid case by the Bombay high court. Only yesterday, the other two accused got bail. In such a case, the bail should have been granted by the Esplanade court, but advocates representing the NCB made all the efforts to ensure the jail term of the accused got extended by making new arguments every day. They want to scare them. At last, they got bail. I am repeating this again, it is a false case. They were deliberately framed by (Sameer) Wankhede. The case can be quashed if the accused approaches the high court with evidence,” Malik told reporters.

“The officer (Sameer Wankhede) who arrested them has approached the high court with a plea that the Mumbai Police should not be allowed to investigate the complaints against him. Police said if we have to arrest him then a prior notice of 72 hours will be issued in advance. Till yesterday, he was requesting the Mumbai Police not to arrest him and today he approached the high court. He had requested security from the Mumbai Police and now what has changed within a week that he lost his faith in Mumbai Police. It is a fact that he has done forgery, and thus is scared of the police,” he added.

On Wednesday, Malik said he had proof that an international drug lord was present at the Cordelia cruise rave party along with his girlfriend, but the NCB team, led by Wankhede, chose to let him off, as the drug lord was his “friend”. Malik claimed he has the pictures and video footage to corroborate this and could share them with the NCB if the agency approached him.

The high profile matter took a further twist when Prabhakar Sail, a witness in the case, alleged on Sunday that Wankhede and some other NCB officers had sought ₹25 crore from actor Shah Rukh Khan as extortion money to release Aryan. Following Sail’s allegation, a vigilance probe was ordered into Wankhede’s conduct and Mumbai Police too started a probe in this matter.

Malik has maintained that the rave party was organised without any permission including from the Mumbai Police or the state home department. The only permission they had was from the director-general (DG), shipping.

Meanwhile, the OBC cell of BJP has announced to stage agitation at the party’s Nariman Point office on Friday under the leadership of OBC morcha chief Narendra Gaokar. Party’s vice-president Chitra Wagh too has condemned Malik for revealing personal information of the first wife of Wankhede. “Chief minister Uddhav Thackeray takes action for the remarks on Twitter, but in this case, where a woman is being publicly insulted, he has maintained silence. This has been time and again witnessed in the country, that whenever Congress comes to the power Dalits and backward classes are targeted,” she said.

On Thursday, the state NCP chief Jayant Patil stood by Malik and said that the charges against Kiran Gosavi, who is also one of the witnesses in Aryan Khan case, and allegations of extortion by Sail are serious in nature. He also said that NCB is harassing and defaming people and Malik is trying to prove misuse of the central agencies in Maharashtra.

“(Kiran) Gosavi has been arrested for cheating. He was also part of the raid and is also accused of extortion to the tune of ₹18 crore to ₹25 crore in the Aryan Khan case. The accusation was made by one of his colleagues. Both the offences are serious in nature. In the entire matter, political misuse of NCB is also coming to the fore as similar things have happened with Malik’s relative (son-in-law Sameer Khan who was arrested by NCB for alleged possession of drugs). Today whatever Nawab Malik is saying is with evidence and it shows the entire NCB action is to defame and harass people by putting them behind the bars. Today it is about Shah Rukh Khan’s son and it may have happened with others as well, thus it requires a detailed probe,” Patil told reporters.

He said that the investigation will help in bringing out the fact that Wankhede used a fake caste certificate to get a government job as an IRS (Indian Revenue Service) officer.

“The point Nawab Malik is trying to make here is that the central agencies such as the income tax (I-T), Enforcement Directorate (ED) or NCB are being misused for harassing and defaming people and this need to be seen objectively and the evidence appeared so far need to be probed,” he pointed out.

He also said that they are expecting the NCB vigilance team that arrived in Mumbai to investigate the charges against Wankhede will work to bring out the facts and not to conceal them.