Maharashtra minister Nawab Malik cruises on with allegations, this time about Cordelia party permission

Maharashtra minister Nawab Malik, who has repeatedly termed the cruise drug bust case as “fake” and has been attacking the NCB officer who led the raid, launched a fresh string of startling allegations in the case. From blaming the Centre for allowing the contentious event to hint at an international drug mafia angle, Malik has made several serious claims. Here are some of the key points made by the NCP leader so far.

• Malik claimed the Cordelia cruise drugs party organisers had taken permission directly from the “directorate of shipping” at the Centre and not the state police or the state home department.
• Speaking to reporters, Malik also claimed that a member of an international drugs mafia was present on the same cruise, and asked how come he was moving scot-free, while some others were arrested, following a raid on the ship earlier this month. “I have the video of the drug lord dancing with his girlfriend. If the NCB does not take action, then he will release the video,” he added.
• The minister also claimed that the so-called international drug mafia was incarcerated in Tihar jail in Delhi. “There are some of videos of the party in which the person, sporting a beard, can been seen. I am told he was in the Tihar Jail (Delhi) and in a Rajasthan jail in the past. The NCB’s Delhi team should check the CCTV cameras of the cruise. How come a few people were arrested and the international level drugs mafia (member) is moving scot-free? the NCP spokesperson asked.
• Malik also said if the Narcotics Control Bureau Mumbai zonal director Sameer Wankhede’s birth certificate, which the minister had posted online to claim the official forged documents to secure job, turns out false, then he will resign from his ministerial post and retire as a politician.
• Malik said, I believe that a top committee of NCB officials from Delhi has arrived in Mumbai. They should check the call detail records of personal phones of NCB zonal director Sameer Wankhede, (witnesses) KP Gosavi, Prabhakar Sail and Wankhede’s driver Mane. You will need no recording of statements. The phone calls will be self-explanatory.”
• The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) raided the cruise ship off the Mumbai coast on 2 October during which drugs were allegedly seized. Later, Aryan Khan, actor Shah Rukh Khan’s son, and some others were arrested.
• Malik had also accused Wankhede of illegal phone tapping and forging his documents to secure job. Wankhede, who visited the NCB office in Delhi on Tuesday, has denied the allegations.

Pvt citizen seeks urgent legal recourse against Maha minister, fails The Bombay High Court on Wednesday refused to grant an urgent hearing to a PIL that sought directions to Maharashtra minister and NCP leader Nawab Malik to refrain from making any comments against the NCB, in light of the drugs case in which actor Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan Khan is an accused. The PIL was filed on Tuesday by city resident Kausar Ali, who claims to be a priest and a person working for the rehabilitation of drug addicts. Ali urged the HC to direct Malik not to make any comments against the NCB or any other investigating agency associated with the Aryan Khan case and officers of such agencies, saying it will demoralise the probe agencies and encourage drug abuse among citizens. The petitioner’s counsel, Ashok Sarogi, mentioned the PIL before a bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice MS Karnik seeking an urgent hearing. The HC however, asked Sarogi to approach the vacation bench that will assemble from next week, or to wait for regular courts to resume after the Diwali holidays that will start on 1 November. “Move the vacation bench or wait for the regular benches to assemble,” the HC said. The PIL, siting some of Malik’s recent tweets, said the minister has been tweeting and making claims against the NCB and its officer Sameer Wankhede to “demoralise” them. The plea claimed that the NCB, under the supervision of Wankhede, has proven to be the “most effective” agency in the recent past. Aryan Khan (23) was arrested on October 3 along with his friend Arbaaz Merchant, fashion model Dhamecha and some others by the NCB, after it raided a cruise ship off the Mumbai coast and claimed to have seized drugs onboard. While Aryan Khan and Merchant are now lodged at the Arthur Road prison, Dhamecha is at the Byculla women’s prison. A special court for NDPS cases had refused to grant them bail following which they moved the high court. The matter remains subjudice. With inputs from PTI