India's federally ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, which is the main opposition party in the state of Maharashtra, will stage a demonstration in support of Narcotic Control Bureau officer Sameer Wankhede on Friday.
The officer is linked to investigating a drug case involving Aryan Khan, son of Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan.
The demonstration will be led by Narendra Gaokar, chief of the BJP's Other Backward Class wing (OBC Morcha), outside its headquarters in Nariman Point. The BJP's Mumbai chief, Mangal Prabhat Lodha, will also take part in it. The protest will start at 3pm (GMT 5:30pm).
The BJP’s decision to take to the street to defend Wankhede comes a day after the Bombay High Court granted bail to Aryan Khan. He was arrested by the NCB officer on 3 October.
The protest is to counter Maharashtra's ruling Shiv Sena and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), which has lambasted Wankhede for his alleged highhandedness.
NCP politician and state cabinet minister Nawab Malik has lately launched a series of attacks against Wankhede. He has even claimed that the recovery of banned drugs from the cruise liner by the NCB was "fake".
The minister has also alleged that the NCB officer used a fake Scheduled Caste certificate to get an Indian Revenue Services (IRS) job.
Wankhede has denied all the allegations.