Union Min Ramdas Athawale advises Shah Rukh Khan: 'Send Aryan to drug de-addiction centre'

As Shah Rukh Khan's son Aryan Khan languishes in jail, Union Minister Ramdas Athawale on Sunday, advised the superstar to send his son to a drug de-addiction centre for a few months. Athawale has also come out publically in support of the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), dismissing bribery allegations against zonal director Sameer Wankhede. 23-year-old Aryan Khan - Shah Rukh Khan's son and seven others have been arrested in an NCB drug bust at Mumbai's international cruise port on October 2.

Athawale: 'Send Aryan Khan to de-addiction centre'

On Sunday, one of the independent witness - Prabhakar Sail - KP Gosavi's personal bodyguard alleged that he heard Rs 18 crore deal between Gosavi and one Sam D'Souza, of which 8 crore was to be paid to Sameer Wankhede. Sail also alleged that Gosavi had already received Rs 50 lakh in the matter. All allegations have been refuted by NCB. NCP minister Nawab Malik has alleged that NCB was in cahoots with BJP - citing independent witnesses Manish Bhanushali and K.P Gosavi's BJP links - in the Mumbai cruise drug bust. NCB has maintained that the agency did not know Bhanushali and Gosavi prior to 2 October.

On Wednesday, a single bench of Special (NDPS) Judge VV Patil denied bail to Aryan Khan, Arbaaz Merchant and Munmun Dhamecha stating that the offense was grave and serious and hence was not a fit case for granting bail. During the proceeding, Aryan Khan's lawyer Amit Desai reiterated that any person found with a small quantity of drugs has the right to file for bail as long as he cooperates in the investigation. Opposing claims that Aryan Khan was not in possession of drugs, ASG Anil Singh stated the recovered drugs were meant for both the accused. He added the quantity of the hard drug cannot be for personal consumption and the same was seen in the WhatsApp chats of the accused persons.

NCB's drug bust off Mumbai coast

On October 2, NCB busted a high-profile drug party on Cordelia cruise ship en route from Mumbai to Goa, and seized small amounts of Cocaine, Mephedrone, Charas, Hydroponic Weed, MDMA and cash Rs. 1,33,000. As per sources, NCB Zonal Director Sameer Wankhede, along with his team, boarded the cruise ship in the guise of passengers after receiving a tip-off about the purported drug party from the CISF.  According to NCB officials, these people, along with about 1,200 people on board the ship, were heading to deep sea for a sundowner party. Eight people - Aryan Khan, Arbaaz Merchantt, Munmun Dhamecha, Nupur Sarika, Ismeet Singh, Mohak Jaswal, Vikrant Chhoker, Gomit Chopra were arrested, while six others were let off by the NCB. As of date, 20 people have been arrested by the NCB based on nine independent witnesses including -  Manish Bhanushali and K.P Gosavi.