'Mumbai NCB officials didn't arrest actual accused persons': Report in Aryan Khan drugs case

New Delhi, May 15

The report of the Special Enquiry Team (SET) report filed under the chairmanship of Gyaneshwar Singh, DDG (NR), Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), in connection with Aryan Khan drugs case has revealed some startling facts, stating the suppliers and the individuals who were actually in the possession of drugs were allowed to go by Mumbai NCB officials team led by former Mumbai zone head of NCB, Sameer Wankhede.

"A number of passengers were searched and examined at the departure gate of MPT (Mumbai Port Trust), by Ashish Ranjan (an NCB official), as per provisions of section 50 of the NDPS Act. One Arbaaz A. Merchant, accepted that he is having 'charas' hidden inside his shoes. He also voluntarily handed over 'charas' to Ashish Ranjan. But he was allowed to go," said the report.

The report states that many suspects were allowed to go and the same was not documented.

"One Siddarth Shah who had the alleged role in supplying 'charas' to Arbaaz A. Merchant was also allowed to walk free by NCB officials even though Shah had accepted that he got money from Arbaz to buy Charas for him and there were incriminating chats showing that he himself was consuming drugs," the NCB inquiry report read.

The enquiry conducted by SET has further revealed that the accused persons were brought to the NCB office in a private vehicle of the independent witness, K.P. Gosavi.

The presence of Gosavi was created intentionally in such a manner so as to give an impression that he was an NCB personnel even though there were NCB personnel to handle the custody of the accused persons.

Gosavi was allowed to be present in the company of accused persons and even allowed to come to the NCB office after the raid, which was against the norms for an independent witness.

"In this manner, Gosavi took the freedom and clicked selfies and recorded the voice note of one of the accused. Gosavi and his aide Sanvile D'Souza, and others entered a conspiracy to extort Rs 25 crore from family members of Aryan Khan."

On October 2, 2021, a secret information was received in the Mumbai Zone of NCB, related to consumption and possession of Narcotics Substances by various individuals on the Cordelia Cruise ship. After receiving the information a team was formed and raid was conducted.

Ashish Ranjan Prasad, was taken as the Investigation Officers, while Kiran Gosavi and Prabhakar Sail were taken as the independent witnesses in one of the incidents in the case.

The search and seizure and arrest of the suspected individuals in this case were carried out under the supervision of Sameer Wankhede, V.V. Singh and Ashish Ranjan.