Sanjay Singh, head of the SIT formed by NCB, at the NCB office on Sunday. Pic/Bipin Kokate

Mumbai: NCP cabinet minister Nawab Malik on Sunday alleged that NCB (Narcotics Control Bureau) zonal director Sameer Wankhede was part of a conspiracy to kidnap actor Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan for ransom and BJP functionary Mohit Bharatiya was the mastermind of the plan. Malik made it clear that his fight was neither against the BJP nor the NCB, but he will continue his campaign against the “wrongdoers in the system”.

Both Wankhede and Bhartiya denied Malik’s charges, saying they are baseless and false. Calling them a “bunch of lies”, Wankhede said: “Malik is raising allegations without any basis. Aryan was produced before the magistrate’s court and sessions court, where he said he had no complaints against the NCB. In the Bombay High Court too, during the bail hearing, neither Aryan nor his lawyer levelled any allegations against the NCB. The defence even filed an affidavit in the HC saying they are staying away from statements made by a politician.”

But Malik said: “I am making the statement with full responsibility. Wankhede was the party of the kidnap plot in collaboration with Bharatiya, who is the part of his private army. Initially, the deal was fixed for Rs 25 crore. It was reduced to Rs 18 crore after negotiations, and Rs 50 lakh was given. Unfortunately, the deal did not work out owing to NCB witness Kiran Gosavi’s selfie with Aryan, which went viral.”

Malik said he has confirmed information that Bharatiya met Wankhede near a graveyard in Oshiwara. “They were lucky that the CCTV camera near the kabarasatan has not been operational for a long time, otherwise the footage would show the meeting.” He further claimed that Kashiff Khan, the managing director of Fashion TV India and alleged organizer of the “rave party” on the cruise liner, had invited Mumbai city guardian minister Aslam Shaikh and the children of the cabinet members in the MVA government on the ship. “But Shaikh refused his invitation,” Malik said. He also alleged that besides Bharatiya, his brother-in-law Rishabh Saachdeva, Pratik Gabba and Aamir Furniturewala were instrumental in taking Aryan to the cruise ship. “Why were they not arrested by Wankhede,” he asked.

Bharatiya said Malik and Sunil Patil, who first gave a tip off to the NCB about the cruise party, were friends for 20 years. “When Patil used to party in The Lalit hotel, Malik would go too. Today, Malik has confirmed his relations with him; it’s a conspiracy set up by the NCP along with Patil,” he said. “I had earlier said that a cabinet minister, who has relations with drug peddlers, was involved in a cruise party. Today Malik has confirmed that Shaikh has relations with Khan and that the children of NCP leaders and ministers were in contact with peddlers and were invited to parties.”

“I am open for any inquiry...Malik should prove his allegations,” said Bharatiya. “I will go to court on all the allegations. I have also filed cases in the court for defamation...The NCP must clarify its relations with Patil...”

(Inputs by Chaitanya Marpakwar)

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Addressing his ninth press conference after the arrest of Aryan Khan, now out on bail, state minister Nawab Malik said on Sunday that an informer named Sanville D’Souza, alias Sam, orchestrated a deal between NCB officer Sameer Wankhede and Shah Rukh Khan’s manager Pooja Dadlani to let the actor’s son walk away. The matter wouldn’t have blown up had K P Gosavi’s selfie with Aryan not gone viral, said the minister.

Malik said Sam is an accused in the agency’s weed bakery case, but he was never arrested despite being summoned. Keeping up his allegations against Narcotics Control Bureau’s Zonal Director Sameer Wankhede has his own army to extort money from people and D’Souza was a part of it. Malik also said that some other NCB officers were also involved in what he called Wenkhede’s design. He said D’Souza was summoned by the NCB in June. Malik shared on Twitter what he claimed to be a copy of the summons.

The minister shared an audio clip purportedly between a top NCB officer and D’Souza. The officer purportedly tells D’Souza to report before the agency and that he should not “think of changing his phone as he has all IMEI details”. On D’Souza’s request, the officer gives him more time, claims the audio clip.

“I want to ask the agency why he was not arrested and what happened after the summons? As per my information, he [Sam D’Souza] paid some amount to the officer and became an informer. He was just involved in making deals for NCB and collecting money as we can see what is happening in the cruise drug case. He is one of the main culprits behind the extortion money taken from Pooja Dadlani,” Malik said.

The minister said he has nothing against NCB. “I am not saying that entire NCB is fraud but because of one person and his army, the image of NCB is at stake and the senior officers should not let this happen, they should probe and find the truth.” 

A source from the NCB requesting anonymity said, “He [Sam D’Souza] was called for clarity based on some facts that surfaced during the investigation. He was not arrested as there was not enough material against him.” The officer also said that D’Souza was summoned in a case of one accused who is the son of a former ACP of Mumbai police.

Malik said one of the six cases taken over by the NCB’s SIT is the one involving his son-in-law Sameer Khan. He said if this is an attempt to browbeat him, he won’t submit to such tactics. Claiming that there is apparent pressure on SRK and his manager, he said, “I urged them that they are victims and they should fear about anything.”

Meanwhile, Sunil Patil, another mysterious personality in the alleged extortion attempt from SRK’s manager Dadlani, came forward following D’Souza allegations that it was Patil who had introduced him to NCB’s panch witnesses K P Gosavi and Manish Bhanushali. Patil told the press that D’Souza is known him since the last one year. “He [D’souza] called me that he had information about the Cordelia cruise arty and wanted me to help and I connected him with Bhanushali and Gosavi. After everything happened I got involved again and because of my intervention, Gosavi returned all the money to Sam D’Souza,” said Patil.

Patil also said that D’Souza wanted his help over the NCB summons. “I told him that I don’t know anyone in NCB. He later asked for monetary help as he was supposed to pay to someone in the NCB. He was let off after he paid R25 lakh,” Patil said.

Patil said he has no connection with NCB and Nawab Malik as alleged by BJP’s Mohit Kamboj, alias Bharatiya. “I was associated with NCP till 2016 and after that I am not with any political party. The allegations made by Kamboj is baseless I have never met Malik I spoke to him once on October 10 after his press conference on the Aryan Khan case.”

Patil, who gave his statement to the Mumbai police SIT that is probing the extortion allegations against Wankhede and others on witness Prabhakar Sail’s complaint, said he was threatened and beaten in a Delhi hotel by Manish Bhanushali and others. He said they were forcing him to speak to the media in favour of Wankhede.

NCB’s SIT lead IPS Sanjay Singh had issued summons to Aryan Khan to record his fresh statement on Sunday, but he didn’t appear citing personal reasons. Singh said Aryan’s friend Arbaaz Merchant and another accused Aachit Kumar recorded their statement. They were with the SIT for about 9 hours.