NCP’s Nawab Malik alleges Aryan Khan case is one of kidnapping and ransom’

Nawab Malik claims BJP leader Mohit Kamboj to be NCB official Sameer Wankhede’s partner in-crime

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Pune: Firing yet another fresh salvo of allegations in the Cordelia cruise drug bust, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Maharashtra Minister Nawab Malik on Sunday claimed that the case involving Aryan Khan, the son of Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan was one of “kidnap and ransom” while accusing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Mohit Kamboj leader of being the mastermind behind the ‘conspiracy’. 

Speaking to newspersons here in Mumbai, Malik alleged that the plan to trap Aryan Khan was laid through Kamboj, a former Bharatiya Janata Party Yuva Morcha (BJYM) President and general secretary of the party’s Mumbai unit, while accusing the BJP leader of being Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) officer Sameer Wankhede’s “partner-in-crime” in an extortion racket. 

The NCP leader further alleged that another ‘partner’ of Wankhede, was Kashiff Khan. The latter, who was present at the party, had apparently been “forcing” Maharashtra Minister Aslam Shaikh (also Mumbai’s Guardian Minister) to attend the cruise party. 

“Aryan Khan did not purchase the ticket for the (Cordelia) cruise party. He was brought there by Pratik Gaba and Amir Furniturewala. The trap was laid through Mohit Kamboj. Aryan was ‘kidnapped’ and ransomed and after the initial demand of Rs. 25 crores, the deal was settled at Rs. 18 crores,” claimed State’s Minority Development Minister Nawab Malik. 

Malik pointed to his press conference that he held immediately after the October 2 drug bust where he had alleged that the NCB had let off three individuals – Rishabh Sachdeva, Pratik Gaba and Amir Furniturewala – after having allegedly detained them from the Mumbai cruise party. 

The NCP leader said that Sachdeva is Kamboj’s brother-in-law adding that the “entire (cruise drug bust) story hinged upon the letting off of these three people, including Rishabh Sachdeva”. 

Claiming that Wankhede and Kamboj had “good relations”, Malik said that the latter owned 12 hotels in the city and was believed to have shut businesses of his competitors by lodging false cases against them. 

Malik remarked that one selfie however had “spoilt the extortion play”, alluding to the picture taken by shadowy self-styled private investigator Kiran Gosavi of himself with Aryan Khan. Gosavi was recently arrested by the Pune police in a 2018 cheating case and has a number of complaints of fraud against him in Pune, Mumbai and Thane. 

Malik further alleged that Kamboj had been accused in a bank fraud of Rs.1,100 crore and that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had even raided his home a year-and-a-half ago, after which the matter was apparently hushed up. 

The NCP leader further said Kamboj and Wankhede had reportedly met outside Oshiwara crematorium on October 7, a few days after Aryan Khan’s arrest in the October 2 ‘drug bust’ case. 

“After this, Wankhede panicked and complained to the police that they were being followed. They were lucky that the nearby Close Circuit Television (CCTv) cameras were not working and we couldn’t get the feed,” said Malik. 

He also categorically refuted Kamboj’s charges that one Sunil Patil from Dhule, (who as per Mohit Kamboj) was closely associated with NCP leaders, including former Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh, was the ‘mastermind’ of the cruise drug bust case. 

According to Malik, Sameer Wankhede ran ‘a private army’ which included Patil and two local ‘journalists’ called Rajkumar Bajaj and advocate Pradeep Nambiar, who were active participants in this extortion business. 

The NCP minister said that Vijay Pagare, the Mumbai-based businessman who earlier made the sensational claim that the October 2 cruise raid had been “pre-planned”, had told him that Wankhede’s ‘private army’ used to gather in a posh Mumbai hotel which they had booked rooms for a period of seven months and where drugs allegedly used to be consumed amid much other revelry. 

“Sunil Patil is not an NCP worker nor have I met him at any time in my life…his photos are circulating with (Union Home Minister) Amit Shah along with other BJP leaders. Likewise, Manish Bhanushali (another controversial NCB witness alleged to be a BJP worker) has had his pictures taken with top-ranking BJP brass – from Prime Minister Modi to others…I am not accusing any political party but I do contend that this Patil is a fraud and also part of Wankhede’s ‘private army’,” said Malik.

Clarifying that his fight with neither against the NCB nor the BJP nor a tussle between the Centre and the Maharashtra governments, but merely against disreputable elements, Malik urged the BJP to stop shielding ‘dubious’ characters like Kamboj, Bhanushali and Sunil Patil while exhorting the NCP to weed out their department of ‘rotten apples’. 

“I am not scared of bogus cases against me or my family… This fight is against extortion and I urge the NCB to weed out their ‘rotten fish’ who include NCB officers Sameer Wankhede, (NCB superintendent) V.V. Singh, Ashish Ranjan Prasad (investigating officer in the cruise drug bust) and Wankhede’s driver by the name of Mane. They are ruining the NCB’s reputation,” said Malik, stressing that there was “no mid-sea drug bust operation” as claimed by the NCB and that the entire episode was one of extortion.