SRK's driver summoned by NCB; Sameer Wankhede says 6 people have been let off, not 3
Narcotics Control Bureau said it let off people against whom it did not find any evidence. Countering Nawab Malik's claim that 3 people have been let off, Sameer Wankhede said the number is actually the double.
Narcotics Control Bureau zonal director Sameer Wankhede on Saturday said the agency had actually let off six people, not 3 people, as Maharashtra minister Nawab Malik claimed earlier in the day, in connection with the cruise rave party case in which Shah Rukh Khan's son Aryan Khan has been arrested. Aryan Khan is now at the Arthur Road Jail after he was denied bail by the metropolitan magistrate court on Friday. Reports said Shah Rukh Khan's driver has been summoned by the NCB for questioning.
Maharashtra minister Nawab Malik, whose son-in-law was arrested by the NCB in January this year, has brought a series of allegations against the NCB in connection with the Aryan Khan case. On Saturday, the minister said the agency let off three individuals and one of them is Rishabh Sachdeva, the brother-in-law of Mohit Bhartiyam a former Yuva Morcha chief of the BJP. The other two are Amir Furniturewala and Pratik Gaba, as Nawab Malik claimed.
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"It has been said that we let off three people. But we actually let off six people as their roles didn't transpire in the investigation. We had brought them to the office for inquiry by serving them notice under sections 67 of the NDPS Act and as their role was not found in the case, they were subsequently allowed to go. For security reasons, their identity can not be revealed," Sameer Wankhede said.
Clarifying the number of how many people were arrested from the cruise on that day, NCB said 14 people were detained and 8 eight were later arrested while six were let off as there was no evidence against them. "We have recorded statements of all the detainees. The time of the statement has also been mentioned. NCB's all actions were well within the law and transparent. The case related documents were produced before the court. We would soon file chargesheet in the case," NCB deputy director-general Gyaneshwar Singh said.
"All the allegations levelled against NCB are baseless, motivated afterthoughts & prejudiced in nature. Such statements are based on conjecture and assumptions. These assumptions are frivolous and malicious in view of documents and records of procedures duly followed by NCB that can subject to legal verification," the agency said.