Aryan Khan, who was recently granted bail in the cruise ship drug case, was summoned by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) on Sunday, but he failed to appear for interrogation citing fever, reported ANI.
On Friday, the NCB had transferred six of its cases, including the one in which Khan was arrested, from its Mumbai team to their Delhi counterparts. The SIT team, which reached Mumbai on Saturday, had summoned Khan along with two other accused – Arbaaz Merchant and Aachit Kumar – for questioning.
While Merchant and Kumar appeared before the SIT, Khan was absent and an officer told ANI, “Due to slight fever, Aryan Khan will not be coming.”
23-year-old Khan was arrested on October 3 by the NCB during a cruise ship drug raid based on a tip-off. The agency allegedly seized 13 gm of cocaine, 21 gm of charas or hashish, 22 pills of MDMA (ecstasy), 5 gm mephedrone, and cash worth Rs 1.33 lakh, and Khan was taken into NCB custody, along with a few others, including his friend Merchant and Munmun Dhamecha.
All three were granted bail on October 28. While Khan walked out on October 30, Merchant and Dhamecha got out of jail a day later.
Meanwhile, Maharashtra Minister Nawab Malik of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) made fresh allegations on Sunday that the cruise ship drug case was actually one of “kidnap and ransom.” He also accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Mohit Kamboj of being the mastermind behind the ‘conspiracy’.
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“Aryan Khan didn’t 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 Malik.
Earlier, Malik had accused Sameer Wankhede, NCB Mumbai’s zonal director, of furnishing a ‘false’ caste certificate to secure a job in the Indian Revenue Services (IRS). His accusations came amidst extortion allegations made against Wankhede by Prabhakar Sail, an independent witness in the case, who claims to be the personal bodyguard of Kiran Gosavi, the private investigator seen in the viral selfie with Aryan Khan at the NCB office.
Currently, there is an ongoing investigation on Wankhede regarding these extortion allegations.