Express News Service
MUMBAI: The witness number one in the Mumbai cruise ship drugs case, Prabhakar Raghoji Sali, shockingly revealed on Sunday that Rs 25 crore pay off was demanded by Narcotic Control Bureau Zonal Director Sameer Wankhede, middleman and witnesses from Bollywood star Shahrukh Khan to release his son Aryan Khan.
Prabhakar Sali released a video message and even signed an affidavit stating the facts that after the detention of Aryan Khan, the phone call was made to Shahrukh Khan manager. The meeting happened in the presence of another witness of case KP Gosavi and Sam Desouza at Lower Parel where the Rs 25 crore amount was demanded to release Aryan Khan. Sali is also the personal bodyguard of KP Gosavi.
NBC has not yet reacted to these allegations.
Sali in his affidavit stated that Gosavi told that they will demand Rs 25 crore but at last they 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,” Sali said in the affidavit.
Sali 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,” Sali added.
He said after news of his boss KP Gosavi missing, he is also afraid of 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,” Sali demanded.
Sali said that Gosavi got Rs 50 lakh in some cases in the release of someone, out of this amount, the Rs 38 lakh was given to Sam Desouza while the remaining amount was kept with Gosavi.
In Aryan Khan case, also the ransom amount was not paid therefore he was not released after detention but arrested on drug charges.
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
