The NCB charged Aryan with offences under Section 8(c), 20(b), 27, 28, 29 and 35 under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act.Mumbai News Live Updates: Senior Advocate and former Attorney General for India, Mukul Rohatgi will represent Aryan Khan, son of Bollywood actor Shahrukh Khan, in his bail plea before Bombay High Court in the cruise ship drug case on Tuesday. Aryan is seeking bail from High Court after both Magistrate and Sessions Court had rejected his bail plea.
The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), on October 2, took Aryan into custody after raiding a cruise ship en route to Goa from Mumbai and placed him under arrest on October 3. The NCB charged Aryan with offences under Section 8(c), 20(b), 27, 28, 29 and 35 under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act.
He was remanded to NCB custody till October 4, which was extended till October 7. Thereafter, he was remanded to judicial custody after which he immediately moved for bail.
Meanwhile, actor Ananya Panday failed to appear before the NCB for questioning in connection with her alleged WhatsApp chats with Aryan Khan.
A three-member team of NCB will go from Delhi to Mumbai today to probe the allegations levelled by Maharashtra Minister Nawab Malik against NCB Zonal Director Sameer Wankhede. The team will comprise DDG NCB Gyaneshwar Singh and two inspector level officers, said NCB Sources.
Kiran P Gosavi, one of the witnesses in the Cordelia cruise ship drug bust case who had gone absconding, Monday told the media that he will surrender before the police, but outside Maharashtra.
Gosavi, the alleged private investigator who accompanied NCB officials on the cruise ship raid, has prior criminal records and faces four FIRs registered against him in Maharashtra. The Pune Police recently issued a look-out circular against him. He had been missing ever since the cruise raid on October 2. Read More
Maharashtra minister Nawab Malik on Tuesday made fresh allegations against NCB’s zonal director Sameer Wankhede, accusing him of illegal phone tapping. Malik shared a letter that he allegedly received from an unnamed NCB officer which lists 26 cases in which Sameer Wankhede and his team allegedly planted drugs on people to arrest them. Malik has requested officials to include it in the investigation being conducted against Wankhede and will be handing over the letter to the agency head.
The point is not to say that Aryan Khan is equal before the law; the point is to say, “We can make life miserable even for Aryan Khan”. The jailing of young students in CAA-related cases, the continued detention of many of the Bhima Koregaon accused, the targeting of Bollywood celebrities, or even the intensifying threats of using the Enforcement Directorate are all meant to send a signal, to create a generalised climate of fear, where everyone feels vulnerable, writes Pratap Bhanu Mehta.
On October 6, eight days after his son-in-law Sameer Khan was granted bail by a court in a drug case, NCP leader and Maharashtra minister Nawab Malik addressed a press conference accusing NCB Zonal Director Sameer Wankhede of foisting a false case, and acting as a “BJP pawn” to harass political opponents.
Since then, Malik has kept up his attacks on Wankhede, and in the process, been instrumental in producing evidence that has raised serious questions about due process in the NCB’s Cordelia cruise ship raid, that led to the arrest of Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan, among others. Read More
Actor Rajit Kapur has termed the spotlight on superstar Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan Khan “unfortunate”, saying that the case reiterates that people in the film industry are held under “excruciating scrutiny.” Aryan is currently lodged at the Arthur Road prison in the case of seizure of banned drugs aboard a cruise ship off the Mumbai coast earlier this month. His bail plea will be heard by Bombay High Court on Tuesday.
Kapur, known to star in films like The Making of the Mahatma and Basu Chatterjee’s TV series Byomkesh Bakshi, said the media trial of the Khan family is “extremely unfortunate.”
Mukul Rohatgi, former Attorney General for India, and team Karanjawala & Co., consisting of Senior Partners Ruby Singh Ahuja and Sandeep Kapur were flown down to Bombay today to represent Aryan Khan. The team already consists of senior advocate Amit Desai, senior advocate Satish Manshinde, advocate Anandini Fernandes, and Rustom Mulla, Partner, Desai Desai Carrimjee & Mulla.
Maharashtra Minister Nawab Malik has released a letter that he claims he has received from an unnamed NCB officer which lists 26 cases in which Sameer Wankhede and his team allegedly planted drugs on people to arrest them.
Malik says that he will be forwarding this letter to DG Narcotics requesting him to include this letter in the investigation being conducted on Sameer Wankhede.
Senior Advocate and former Attorney General for India, Mukul Rohatgi is likely to represent Aryan Khan, son of Bollywood actor Shahrukh Khan, in his bail plea before Bombay High Court in the cruise ship drug case on Tuesday. Aryan is seeking bail from High Court after both Magistrate and Sessions Court had rejected his bail plea.The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), on October 2, took Aryan into custody after raiding a cruise ship en route to Goa from Mumbai and placed him under arrest on October 3. The NCB charged Aryan with offences under Section 8(c), 20(b), 27, 28, 29 and 35 under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act.
Kiran Gosavi, one of the witnesses in the Cordelia case, who had a prior criminal record and was absconding told the media that he will surrender before the police. He said he will surrender outside Maharashtra mostly in Lucknow.
Gosavi faces four FIRs registered against him in Maharashtra and the Pune Police recently issued a Look Out Circular against him. He had been missing ever since the cruise raid on October 2.
NCB Mumbai Zonal Director Sameer Wankhede reached Delhi amid allegation of payoff in the drugs case involving actor Shah Rukh Khan's son Aryan. "I have not been summoned. I've come here for a different purpose. Allegations against me are baseless," he told reporters.
An NDPS court said it cannot pass a blanket order barring courts from taking cognizance of an affidavit of an independent witness in the drugs-on-cruise episode, in which he has levelled allegations of extortion attempt by NCB zonal director Sameer Wankhede and others on actor Shah Rukh Khan, whose son Aryan is an accused in the case.
The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) and Wankhede had earlier in the day filed two separate affidavits before the special court against the allegations of extortion attempt levelled against them.
In the affidavits, the anti-drugs agency and Wankhede sought the court to pass an order saying no court should take cognizance of the affidavit prepared by the independent witness, Prabhakar Sail. (PTI)
An eight-foot-long python was rescued from a complex opposite Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray’s residence in Mumbai’s Kalanagar on Monday.
Snake-catcher Atul Kamble said, “I went to the spot after Ramesh Patil, a security guard, called me early in the morning. The rescued python is a female. Since this is the mating season for pythons, and there is a nip in the air at night, the snake may have come to the spot to lay eggs or in search of food. The operation required three snake-catchers as the python was trapped in a congested area.”
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Deputy Director General in Narcotics Control Bureau Gyaneshwar Singh to conduct vigilance enquiry against NCB zonal director Sameer Wankhede. He said that he is yet to begin the enquiry and has so far not summoned Wankhede.
NCB has ordered a vigilance inquiry into the claims made by witness Prabhakar Sail in the cruise drugs case of an extortion bid of Rs 25 crore by some agency officials, including its Mumbai zonal director Sameer Wankhede, and others for letting off accused Aryan Khan, son of actor Shah Rukh Khan.
Meanwhile, a senior Mumbai police officer said that security has been provided to Sail. He has been told to approach the Sahar police station - under whose jurisdiction he resides - for rest of the complaints.
Actor Ananya Panday failed to appear before the Narcotics Control Bureau for questioning in connection with her alleged WhatsApp chats with Aryan Khan, the son of superstar Shah Rukh Khan, arrested in a drugs case, an NCB official said.
Panday was earlier questioned by the NCB for two days last week and was called again on Monday. She was likely to appear before the anti-drugs agency around 11 am on Monday, but did not turn up for the third round of questioning, the official said. (PTI)
A three-member team of NCB will go from Delhi to Mumbai tomorrow to probe the allegations levelled by Maharashtra Minister Nawab Malik against NCB Zonal Director Sameer Wankhede. The team will comprise DDG NCB Gyaneshwar Singh and two inspector level officers, said NCB Sources.
As Nawab Malik posted Sameer Wankhede's birth certificate on his twitter handle today, Wankhede responded by saying that he is “pained by slanderous attacks” of the minister.
In a statement released, Wankhede said, “I belong to a multi religious and secular family. My father is a Hindu and my mother was a Muslim. Publishing my personal documents on Twitter is defamatory and an invasion of my family privacy. Pained by slanderous attacks by Maharashtra Minister Nawab Malik.”
After allegations against NCB’s Zonal Director Sameer Wankhede surfaced, DDG NCB Gyaneshwar Singh has said that further course of action against Wankhede will be decided as per evidence. “Independent witnesses through affidavits circulated some facts on social media. Taking that into cognizance, DG NCB has ordered vigilance to mark the probe. Further course to be decided as per evidence,” Singh said.
NCB’s Zonal Director Sameer Wankhede has termed the claims against him as an attempt to scuttle the ongoing probe in the cruise drug case in which Aryan Khan and others have been arrested.
Appearing before Special NDPS court, NCB’s Mumbai-based Zonal Director Sameer Wankhede told the judge that he was being targeted and is ready for a probe. "My family including my sister and deceased mother are also being targeted, ' Wankhede told the court.
Wankhede filed an affidavit before the special NDPS court, saying that he is is under a 'lurking threat of arrest' due to malafide intent.
NCP minister Nawab Malik has put out a birth certificate issued by the BMC in 1979 of Sameer Wankhede. The birth certificate names Wankhede's father as one Dawood Wankhede. As per UPSC records Wankhede while apperaing for his UPSC exams had filled up the form as Sameer Dnyandev Wankhede.