Aryan Khan drug case: NCB let go 3 detainees, rave party raid 'pre-planned plot', says NCP

NCP national spokesperson and Minority Affairs Minister Nawab Malik demanded that Narcotics Control Bureau director Sameer Wankhede's call records should be checked, he has had conversations with BJP leaders in Delhi and Maharashtra. Hours later, the NCB responded saying, "action was taken according to the legal process. Five were released as no concrete evidence was found against them. All the allegations made against NCB are false and baseless."

Mumbai:The Aryan Khan drug case took an interesting turn with the Nationalist Congress Party on Saturday claiming that the Narcotics Control Bureau released three detainees including the kin of a senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader, and termed the ship rave party raid as "a pre-planned conspiracy".

Addressing the media, NCP national spokesperson and Minority Affairs Minister Nawab Malik said that a total of 11 persons were detained after the swoop on the ship (October 2), including Aryan Khan, the son of Bollywood megastar Shah Rukh Khan.

Malik rubbished the entire case as "false", and said they detained 11 of them. "Mumbai Police had complete information till morning. Following the news, only eight people were arrested. Three people have been released."

Malik claimed that Rushabh Sachdeva, Pratik Gaba and Aamir Furniturewala were released. He also informed that Vrishabh Sachdeva is the brother-in-law of Mohit Kamboj of BJP's Yuva Morcha. "They were released within two hours. His father was with him when he was released. His name appeared in court at the time of the hearing," the minister said.

"The ship of 1,300 people was raided. The raid lasted 12 hours. Only you caught 11 people in it. After this, everyone was brought to the NCB office. However, who ordered the NCB to release three of them?" asked Malik. He demanded that Narcotics Control Bureau director Sameer Wankhede should reveal this.

Explain why these three were brought here and released. Sameer Wankhede's call records should be checked. Sameer Wankhede has had conversations with BJP leaders in Delhi and Maharashtra. This should be investigated, asked Malik.

Hours later responding to the charges made by NCP minister, Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) Deputy Director-General Gyaneshwar Singh said, "Fourteen people were detained during the cruise. After interrogation, eight out of 14 people were arrested and six people have been released. Action was taken according to the legal process. Five were released as no concrete evidence was found against them. All the allegations made against NCB are false and baseless."

Singh went on to add: "We have taken legal action. As a result, the court had twice given us NCB custody of these accused. The court has now remanded the accused in judicial custody for 14 days. Because we have enough evidence against these accused... The NCB is an impartial central body. We do not look at society, religion, caste, individual and party. According to the evidence we are investigating."

Reacting to the allegations leveled by Nawab Malik, Mohit Kamboj threatened to file Rs 100 crore defamation suit against Malik. He is neither a corporator, nor MLA or MP and he is ready for inquiry. "I have no party position and I have been aloof from politics for a year and a half. Vrishabh Sachdeva is my brother-in-law. Nawab Malik should give proof of his connection with this case. He never met Aryan Khan," he rued.

Meanwhile, the NCB has summoned Shahrukh Khan driver for questioning. According to the information received, the same driver had left Aryan to go to the cruise party. The driver was questioned by the NCB for matching all the links in the case as well as for clarification of some things.

Later in the day, NCB has arrested a drug peddler following questioning in the drugs-on-cruise case, taking the number of total arrests in the case to 19.