The ongoing cruise drugs case on Saturday took a new twist after a newly emerged witness, Vijay Pagare, claimed that it was a preplanned case. “Aryan Khan was framed deliberately by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) and some private people,” he said.
Pagare claimed he knows Sunil Patil, who was named as an alleged mastermind in the case by BJP leader Mohit Kambhij. Pagare said, “The case was fabricated. Kiran Gosavi, a private detective and panch (witness) in the case, had taken Rs 50 lakh.
Some of the money in the whole deal was to go to the authorities. Sunil Patil himself told me this.” Pagare’s statement has come a day after the NCB set up a special investigation team (SIT) to investigate Aryan Khan’s and five other cases which have national and international ramifications in order to conduct a deeper investigation to find out new and old linkages. Although the NCB zonal director Sameer Wankhede will assist the team, all these cases have been now taken away by SIT from the Mumbai NCB.
Pagare claimed that Patil and two other witnesses (panch), KP Gosavi and Manish Bhanushali, were involved in the case. He further alleged that there was a big deal in this case but it later fell through. “I have been in regular contact with Sunil Patil for the last six months as he had promised to do some work. I had paid money to him,” said Pagare.
He added that he also stayed with Patil, Gosavi and Bhanushali in various hotels but was not in the know of their plans. “When I reached the NCB office on October 2, there was the media and police. When I asked someone, I found out that Shah Rukh’s son had been arrested. At that moment, I realised what Patil and others used to discuss,” said Pagare.
