The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) in its application seeking additional time under a provision of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, to file the chargesheet in the drugs case concerning Aryan Khan, has said among other reasons that it is yet to record the voluntary statement of a main panch witness Kiran Gosavi.
Gosavi being an independent witness for the NCB had created a stir as it became known that he had a criminal background and had cases against him, in one of which he was absconding. Gosavi had also taken the infamous selfie with the star kid while he was detained after the raid on the cruise ship. He was also alleged to have tried to extort actor Shah Rukh Khan after Aryan was detained.
The plea said Gosavi is presently in judicial custody of a Pune court and the agency has not been able to get a favourable court order to record his statement. It said another panch witness who was along with Gosavi during the raid’s panchnama - his driver Prabhakar Sail, had turned hostile and made an affidavit before the court, hence the examination of Gosavi assumes importance.
The NCB told the court in its application that part of the digital data in the case has been extracted and analysis of the extracted data, around 8,000 pages, is underway. It claimed time on the ground that the accused are from different parts of the country and some accused are also include foreign nationals and in the lockdown situation due to the third wave of the pandemic, investigations could not be conducted due to travel restrictions, due to which the accused could not join the probe.
It also said that the digital data in the case is voluminous, with social media conversations of accused and suspects running into thousands of pages. In an apparent reference to Aryan Khan, the agency said that some of the accused are highly influential and have incriminating chats with foreign nationals located outside the country. The analysis of the chats is underway, it added, stating that due to the pandemic situation response from foreign agencies has been delayed.
