Arbaaz Merchant quizzed by NCB SIT in cruise drug bust case; father speaks to Republic

The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) SIT questioned Aryan Khan's friend Arbaaz Merchant in the Mumbai Cruise drug bust case on Sunday. Arbaaz Merchant was summoned along with Aryan Khan and other accused Achit Kumar by the 6-member team of the NCB which has landed from Delhi earlier this week. After coming out of the NCB office, Arbaaz's father and advocate Aslam Merchant confirmed that his son had recorded his statement and it was unlikely that he would be summoned again. Aslam Merchant also opined that if the agency wanted to confront Arbaaz with Aryan (who skipped his summons today), then he might be called again. The agency also interrogated Arbaaz's father and recorded his statement in the case.

After coming out of the office, Aslam Merchant told Republic TV, "If they want Aryan and Arbaaz, he can be confronted again. I don't think Arbaaz will be called again... it is their wish... but as of now no."

Meanwhile, Shah Rukh Khan's son Aryan Khan skipped the summons of the NCB SIT on Sunday citing 'slight fever' as the reason, said an NCB official as per ANI reports. After taking over the investigation into the Cordelia Cruise case, the team of Delhi NCB SIT had summoned Aryan Khan for questioning. Sources had informed that the Delhi NCB SIT had asked SRK's son to appear before the agency for questioning before 6 pm on Sunday. However, the agency confirmed that Aryan Khan could not come in for questioning due to a 'slight fever'. NCB SIT is likely to summon him on another date.

On the other hand, NCB’s vigilance team has also summoned Prabhakar Sail, who is a witness in the case and claims to be KP Gosavi's bodyguard, asking him to appear before the NCB tomorrow to record his statement. Earlier, NCB had summoned Sail but he did not appear before the agency.

NCB SIT takes over Mumbai drugs bust case

Against the backdrop of the politics surrounding NCB Mumbai Zonal Director Sameer Wankhede, and the personal and political allegations levelled against him by Maharashtra's ruling party NCP, a central team decided to take over the investigation into the Aryan Khan case and 5 other cases being investigated by the team. The development came after a petition was filed by Wankhede before the Bombay High Court stating that the Aryan Khan and Sameer Khan cases should be probed by the central team. As per the NCB, these five cases have nationwide and international connections, and for close coordination with other agencies, the Central Zone team headed by SK Singh will probe them. Apart from taking over investigation in the 6 cases, NCB officials from Delhi are also probing allegations against Sameer Wankhede.