Maharashtra minister and senior Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Nawab Malik on Sunday said BJP leader Mohit Bharatiya, also known as Mohit Kamboj, was the mastermind of the drugs-on-cruise case in which Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan is an accused and that he partnered the Narcotics Control Bureau’s (NCB) Mumbai zonal director Sameer Wankhede in demanding ransom.
Malik further said Kamboj and Wankhede had met outside Oshiwara graveyard on October 7, a few days after Aryan was arrested in the case.
“After this, Wankhede panicked and complained to the police that they were being chased. They were lucky that the nearby CCTV was not working and we couldn’t get the feed,” Malik was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.
On Saturday, Kamboj had alleged that one Sunil Patil from Dhule, “who is closely associated with NCP leaders, including former Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh”, was the mastermind of the cruise drug bust episode.
Meanwhile, Wankhede’s father has reportedly filed a defamation suit against Malik in the Bombay high court and sought ₹1.25 crore in damages.
Speaking about a party wherein on Kashiff Khan had invited Maharashtra minister Aslam Sheikh, Malik said had the Congress MLA and guardian minister of Mumbai attended the event, it would have been called ‘Udta Maharashtra’ ( on lines of the movie ‘Udta Punjab’ which was based the drug menace in the northern state).
He said Khan is a partner of Wankhede and was present at the party. “Kashiff Khan forced our minister Aslam Shaikh to come to the party and was also planning to bring children of various ministers of our government to the party. If Aslam Shaikh had gone there it, would have been Udta Maharashtra after Udta Punjab,” Malik said.
“A paper roll that was a brand of Fashion TV was seized in the case and it is being said the drug is consumed through that roll. Why was the owner not arrested? The owner of this brand is Kashiff Khan. He is a partner of Wankhede and was present at the party,” he added.