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‘Would’ve been Udta Maharashtra’: Nawab Malik's latest claims on drugs bust in 5 points
According to Malik, the mastermind behind the raid was BJP leader Mohit Bharatiya, also known as Mohit Kamboj, who partnered up with NCB Mumbai zonal director Sameer Wankhede in demanding ransom.
Maharashtra minister and veteran Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader on Sunday made a series of fresh claims regarding the high-profile Mumbai cruise drugs raid conducted by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) last month, in which Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan's son Aryan Khan, among others, was arrested.
According to Malik, the mastermind behind the raid was BJP leader Mohit Bharatiya, also known as Mohit Kamboj, who partnered up with NCB Mumbai zonal director Sameer Wankhede in demanding ransom.
Also Read | Nawab Malik says Aryan Khan's a kidnap and ransom case, Sameer Wankhede & Mohit Kamboj partners
The NCP leader further alleged that another partner of Wankhede, Kashiff Khan, who was present at the party, had earlier “forced” a Maharashtra minister, Aslam Shaikh, to attend the cruise party.
“Had Aslam Shaikh gone there, it would have been ‘Udta Maharashtra’ after ‘Udta Punjab’,” Malik said, referring to the movie that was based on the drug menace in Punjab.
Here are all the new claims made by Nawab Malik in his latest press conference on Sunday, November 7, as quoted by the ANI news agency:
1. “Aryan Khan did not purchase the ticket for the cruise party. It was Pratik Gaba and Amir Furniturewala who brought him there. It's a matter of kidnapping and ransom. Mohit Kamboj is the mastermind and partner of Sameer Wankhede in demanding ransom.”
2. “Mohit Kamboj and Sameer Wankhede met outside the Oshiwara graveyard on October 7, after which Wankhede panicked and complained to the police that they were being chased. They were lucky that the nearby CCTV camera was not working and we couldn't get the feed.”
3. “A paper roll that was a brand of Fashion TV was seized in the case and it is being said the drug is consumed through that roll. Why was the owner not arrested? The owner of this brand is Kashiff Khan. He is a partner of Wankhede and was present at the party.”
4. “Kashiff Khan forced our minister Aslam Shaikh to come to the party and was also planning to bring the children of various ministers of our government to the party. Had Aslam Shaikh gone there it would have been ‘Udta Maharashtra’ after ‘Udta Punjab’.”
5. “Vijay Pagare told me that they were staying in the Lalit hotel for the last seven months. Manish, Vilas Bhanushali, and Sam D'Souza used to go visit them. Girls were also known to frequent the place; drugs were consumed and the money was also exchanged there.”
Pagare is the Mumbai-based businessman who earlier made the sensational claim that the October 2 cruise raid was “pre-planned” and that there was a long line of political games being played in the backdrop of Maharashtra that resulted in such a raid.
Pagare recorded his statement with the Mumbai Police earlier this week, where he said that he personally knew people involved with the raid, including NCB’s independent witness Kiran Gosavi, whose selfie with Aryan Khan went viral on the internet.
