Aryan Khan case: Gosavi denies taking money; to surrender in Lucknow

The twists and turns in the high-profile Mumbai cruise drug bust case are fast resembling a Netflix crime thriller plot. As KP Gosavi, one of the nine witnesses in the raid on the cruise ship by Narcotics Crime Bureau (NCB) which led to the arrest of Aryan Khan, and had gone ‘missing’, has now reappeared giving interviews to the media on Monday (October 25) stating he fears a “threat” to his life.

In another development, reports now say KP Gosavi is likely to surrender in Lucknow later tonight.

The Pune police had recently issued a lookout notice for him in an old cheating case. Gosavi, however, denied all the claims made by his bodyguard Prabhakar Sail that he was involved in collecting ‘extortion money’ on behalf of NCB in Aryan Khan’s case.

Gosavi’s bodyguard Prabhakar Sail had on Sunday alleged that he had overheard a ₹25-crore money deal being discussed to let off Aryan Khan. This charge has been dismissed by the national drugs probe agency.

According to a report in News18, Sail had made damming allegations against the NCB in a video saying that he is “scared of Sameer Wankhede” and for his life. Moreover, he opened a can of worms when he allegedly claimed that “his signatures were taken on blank papers by the NCB officials” and there was reportedly a discussion of a bribe to Sameer Wankhede, the zonal director of NCB, who had become famous after conducting a series of raids on Bollywood celebrities. “I collected ₹50 lakh in cash,” Sail had allegedly said in Marathi.

In his interview to CNN-News18, Gosavi, however, dismissed these allegations and admitted that he would surrender as he “can’t tolerate more” as he was receiving threatening calls. It is not clear who is making these threatening calls to him but he pointed out that political agendas were behind this. In fact, he had switched off his phone from October 3 after receiving several extortion calls, he said, probably explaining why he suddenly went missing.

Also read: Sameer Wankhede goes to court as Nawab Malik raises another charge

Gosavi also explained that he had taken the selfie with Aryan Khan at the cruise ship and not at the NCB office. He however denied meeting SRK’s manager Pooja Dadlani or that he had gone to the Trident Hotel to extort money.

Meanwhile, his bodyguard Sail had told media persons that he had overheard Gosavi telling one Sam D’Souza over the phone (after Aryan Khan was brought to the NCB office following the raid) about a demand of ₹25 crore, and to settle at ₹18 crore as they “have to give ₹ eight crore to Sameer Wankhede”.

Further, Sail said that after the raid, Gosavi, accompanied by NCB officials, took Aryan Khan in a white Innova car to the NCB office. D’souza followed Gosavi in another car, and added they later went to Lower Parel, where a blue colour Mercedes car carrying SRK’s manager Pooja Dadlani arrived at a particular spot.

Gosavi and Dadlani sat in that car and started talking, Sail had claimed. He said they all left after 15 minutes, adding that  ₹50 lakh was delivered to Gosavi by two persons, and he later returned ₹38 lakh.

NCB issues a statement

Meanwhile, the NCB had responded to the claims in an official statement, stating that since  Sail was a witness in the case, which is before the court and sub-judice, he needed to “submit his prayer to the Honorable court rather than through social media if he has anything to say”.

The statement, signed by NCB DDG Mutha Ashok, also added that Wankhede has categorically denied the allegations. “In addition, there are certain vigilance related allegations against certain persons in the affidavit which are based on overhearing by Mr Prabhakar. As some of the contents of the affidavit relate to vigilance matters, I am hereby by forwarding the affidavit to Director General Narcotics Control Bureau and requesting him for further necessary action,” the statement had said.