Key Witness in Mumbai Cruise Ship Drugs Raid Case Appears Before Crime Branch

The key witness said he fears for his life following his revealations about a top NCB official allegedly colluding with a private investigator to ‘settle’ the high-profile case.

A key witness in the Mumbai cruise ship drugs raid case, Prabhakar Sail, whose startling claims gave a twist to the high-profile investigation, appeared before the crime branch officials in Mumbai on Monday morning and met the joint commissioner of police Milind Bharambe.

Sail was hired as a personal bodyguard by private investigator KP Gosavi, who allegedly accompanied the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) officials to the raid on a cruise ship in Mumbai, is now reportedly absconding.

In an affidavit filed a before a local Mumbai court on Sunday, Sail claimed he heard Gosavi speak about a pay-off of ₹8 crore to NCB’s Mumbai-based zonal director Sameer Wankhede in the drugs raid case involving Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan's son Aryan Khan. The top NCB officer, however, denied the allegations.

Saying that he fears for his life, Sail wrote in his affidavit, “KP Gosavi is missing now and I now fear that NCB officials and other persons involved may kill me or abduct me.”

In his affidavit, Sail also claimed to have overheard Gosavi and one Sam D'Souza trying to settle the cruise ship drugs seizure case allegedly for ₹18 crore.

Sail also claimed that when he called to the NCB office as a witness, an officer took his signatures on “10 blank papers” on the instruction of Wankhede.

Published on Oct 25, 2021 01:02 PM IST

By hindustantimes.com, New Delhi