NCB's Wankhede, middlemen demanded Rs 25 crore from Shah Rukh Khan to release son Aryan in drugs case: Witness

MUMBAI: A startling revelation was made on Sunday by a key witness in the cruise ship drugs case related to Aryan Khan apparently exposing signs of foul play in the case.

Prabhakar Raghoji Sail, an independent witness of the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) claimed that Rs 25 crore pay-off was demanded by NCB Zonal Director Sameer Wankhede and others from Bollywood star Shahrukh Khan to release his son Aryan Khan.

Prabhakar Sail released a video message and a notarized affidavit claiming that after the detention of Aryan Khan, he overheard a phone call made to Shahrukh Khan's manager by KP Gosavi and Sam D'Souza at Lower Parel who demanded Rs 25 crore to release Aryan Khan. Sail is also the personal bodyguard of KP Gosavi, one of the independent witnesses whose selfie with Aryan Khan had gone viral.

NBC has reportedly denied pay-off.

Sail in his affidavit claimed that Gosavi demanded Rs 25 crore but finally settled at Rs 18 crore to release Aryan Khan before showing his arrest in the case.

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“Out of total Rs 18 crores, the Rs 8 crore will be paid to Narcotic Control Bureau (NCB) zonal director Sameer Wankhede while the remaining amount will be distributed among them. The meeting took place at Lower Parel where Shahrukh Khan’s manager came in blue Mercedes to meet them. But there was no positive response from Shahrukh Khan’s manager,” Sail said in the affidavit.

Sail revealed that while making the witnesses, in this case, Sameer Wankhede took his sign on 8 to ten blank papers.

“I was hesitant to sign on blank paper but they insisted and told me that nothing will happen. They also took my Aadhaar card and I was made the witness number one in Aryan Khan’s case. My boss KP Gosavi was also a witness in this case. Before the cruise party raid, KP Gosavi visited Ahmedabad, and next night he came and called him at NCB for this operations,” Sail added.

He said that after coming to know that his boss KP Gosavi has gone missing, he is also afraid for his life . He claimed that there is a threat for his life from NCB officer Sameer Wankhede. “My family members are terrified and they are afraid that someone may kill me. Therefore, I decided to release the video and sign the affidavit. If something happens to my life, then NCB officials and others should be held responsible,” Sail demanded.

Sail said that Gosavi got Rs 50 lakh in some cases to release a suspect. Out of this amount, Rs 38 lakh was given to Sam D'souza while the rest Gosavi took.

In Aryan Khan case also, since the ransom amount was not paid he was not released after his arrest.

Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut said that the new murky details have surfaced in the Aryan Khan case. “Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray rightly said that the drug cases are made up to malign the image of Mumbai and Maharashtra therefore he demands the high-level inquiry in this entire case,” Raut said.

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— Sudhir Suryawanshi (@ss_suryawanshi) October 24, 2021