The leader of the Indian Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), Nawab Malik, said at a press conference on Saturday that Aryan Khan, son of Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan, has been wrongly framed in the drugs case by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB).
Malik claimed that on the night of the raid on the Cordelia Cruises' Empress, the NCB had detained a total of 11 people in the case. However, they let go the alleged three main accused individuals in the affair - Rishabh Sachdeva, Pratik Gaba, and Amir Furniturewala.
Highlighting a possible political conspiracy in this high-profile matter, Malik said that one of the three people, Rishab Sachdeva, is Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Mohit Kamboj's brother-in-law.
He claimed that Sachdeva, Gaba, and Furniturewala were released after the BJP leaders from Delhi and Maharashtra put pressure on the NCB.
Malik took to social media and posted videos as evidence of his claims that Sachdeva, Gaba, and Furniturewala can be seen leaving the NCB office after their detention.
Raising questions about the NCB and its investigation, Malik demanded a fair probe by Mumbai police, and said: "We want to know who called Sameer Wankhede (NCB Mumbai director) to let off these three people. Their phone records have to be checked".
Malik also emphasised that the CCTV footage of the cruise and connected areas of this case should also be checked.
Meanwhile, the NCB conducted a raid overnight on Friday at film producer Imtiaz Khatri's house and office. Khatri allegedly has connections with Aryan Khan and many Bollywood personalities and he has also been previously accused of supplying drugs in the Sushant Singh Rajput case.
Flashback to the Case
After getting a tip-off about a rave party on a cruise, the NCB conducted a raid on 2 October and arrested Aryan, the 23-year-old son of Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan, and his friends Arbaaz Merchant, Munmun Dhamecha, Nupur Sarika, Ismeet Singh, Mohak Jaswal, Vikrant Chhoker, and Gomit Chopra.
They were allegedly in possession of and consuming illegal drugs while on a cruise from Mumbai to Goa aboard the Cordelia Cruises' Empress.
Although Aryan's lawyer Satish Maneshinde claimed that Aryan had simply been invited to the event by the party's organisers, and no drugs were recovered from him, the NCB chief said there was evidence to prove the contrary.
On Friday, an Indian court rejected Aryan's bail plea for the second time and had sent all the accused to judicial custody for 14 days.
The NCB has arrested 18 people, including Aryan, since the raid on the ship last week.