Cruise drug raid was staged, men escorting Aryan Khan, Arbaaz Merchant were not from NCB, alleges Nawab Malik

Mumbai: Maharashtra Minorities Affairs Minister Nawab Malik on Wednesday raised eyebrows over the recent NCB raid which ended up with the arrest of Bollywood superstar Shahrukh Khan's son Aryan.

Also, Nationalist Congress Party spokesperson, Mr Malik alleged that the said raid on the cruise ship was staged, with the intention to malign Maha Vikas Aghadi government.

Addressing the media persons here, he pointed out, "In the raid, there were two person; one K P Gosami, who was seen in the video arresting Aryan Khan and taking to the NCB office, is a private detective. Another person Manish Bhanushali was taking Arbaz merchant."

"As per profile of Bhanushali, he is the BJP Vice-President. The NCB should clarify whether they have a policy to hire private persons to conduct raid," he curtly remarked.

Substantiating his claim, the minister further said, "Bhanushali can be spotted in photographs with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP National president J P Nadda, former Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis, MLA Ashish Shelar and others.”

"The BJP should clarify whether he was national vice-president or state,” he asked.

He continued, "Bhanushali had visited Gandhinagar between September 21-22, had meeting with some Gujarat minister and came back to Mumbai. On September 28, he again went back, met Gujarat Minister and then came to Mumbai and took part in the NCB raid."

Independent witness were present during NCB raid on luxury ship: NCB

The Narcotics Control Bureau on Wednesday said that two private persons - Manish Bhanushali and Kiran Gosavi - were among more than half-a-dozen of its ‘independent witnesses’ during the Oct 2 rave party raids on the luxury ship Cordelia Cruise.

However, the agency denied the allegation made by Nationalist Congress Party Spokesperson and Maharashtra Minister Nawab Malik that Bharatiya Janata Party ‘vice-president’ Manish Bhanushali and another ‘private detective’ Kiran Gosavi were involved in the NCB operation.

NCB said that the allegations are “baseless, and made with an aim to malign the agency’s image in the eyes of the public as well; it was levelled in retaliation against an earlier action of the NCB.”

Terming the NCB raid as ‘fraudulent’ he had also raised questions against the NCB’s seizures, not following due processes of the law, etc, and allegedly involving ‘outsider private persons’ in its operations.

The NCB asserted that it functions in a professional and legally transparent manner, does its duties without any bias and even the punchnama were done as per the laws. (UNI)