NCP minister says Aryan Khan and Co were trapped by BJP

The NCP on Wednesday produced evidence during a press meet alleging that a false case has been registered against Aryan Khan and things are being manipulated by the NCB Cabinet Minister and Chief Spokesperson of NCP Nawab Malik said the two unknown men spotted escorting Aryan and Arbaz Merchant on October 2 are BJP men with direct links to senior party cadres Responding to NCPrsquos allegations the agency said the two men were independent witnesses and refused to answer any further questions regarding themDuring the press conference Malik shared two videos in which one person is seen escorting Aryan to the NCB office while the other was with Merchant The person who was walking with Aryan had also clicked a selfie with him after his arrestMalik who addressed the media on Wednesday displayed a powerpoint presentation to show all the evidence he had to support his allegations ldquoAfter Aryanrsquos arrest a selfie of an unknown person with him went viral and NCB said that he is not from the agency We tracked the details of the person and found that he belongs to the BJP and claims to be a private detectiverdquo Malik saidK P Gosavirsquos selfie with Aryan Khan that went viralThe NCP further claimed that the person who was seen with Aryan is K P Gosavi and the one escorting Merchant is Manish Bhanushali ldquoThese two are BJP representatives Bhanushali holds the position of vice president as per his Facebook status but BJP should clarify how he is associated with the party There are multiple photographs of him with Prime Minister Narendra Modi Amit Shah and BJP president JP Naddardquo Malik added He further said ldquoI want to know how a private person is escorting the accused and especially when he is associated with the ruling party We expect a clarification from the NCBrdquolsquoNCB targeting BollywoodrsquoMalik in his press briefing also alleged that since the Sushant Singh Rajput case NCB has been targeting Bollywood Even in Aryanrsquos case nothing was seized at the cruise party but planted on the accused at the NCB office ldquoThe videos of seizure that the NCB shared with the press clearly show that they were shot in the NCB office The entire operation was fake and carried out with the sole purpose of hogging publicity Not a single gram of drug was seized from the arrested people No panchnama was done Some days ago there was information that Shah Rukh Khan would be the next target You are aware of the relations between the BJP and SRKrdquo he addedLaunching more attacks on the NCB Malik said that after the case Wankhede spoke to the media on camera and said that 810 people had been arrested ldquoWhy such a vague statement When yoursquore investigating the case you should know the exact numbers We want to know if there are 10 people because only eight have been shown as arrested Who are the other two or have they been allowed to leaverdquoThe cabinet minister further said that they tracked the location of Bhanushali and found that he was in Ahmedabad in the last week of September meeting various politicians During the same period drugs worth thousands of crores were seized at Adani port ldquoThe agency must clarify if these two cases have any linksrdquo said MalikSpeaking to the press in Delhi Bhanushali said ldquoI just gave information to the NCB as a responsible citizen I was there in the capacity of a witness as requested by the NCB My party BJP has nothing to do with the arrest I donrsquot hold any position in the party I am just a worker Malikrsquos allegations are baseless I will file a defamation case against him My life is in danger the government should provide security to merdquoWhen midday contacted Bhanushali he said ldquoOn October 1 I got information and shared it with the NCB immediately An NCB officer told me that they had got similar information about the use of drugs at the cruise party After the raid I had gone to the NCB office as a witness along with others I had no idea that this would become a political issue I risked my life and fulfilled my duty Those who are taking and selling drugs should be punishedrdquoNCB respondsNCB Deputy Director General Gyaneshwar Singh along with Wankhede addressed the media on Wednesday Singh read out a written statement about the details of the case and said that the allegations levelled against them were baseless ldquoThere are several independent witnesses in the case as per the lawrdquo Singh saidHe further read the statement mentioning the names of a few witnesses which includes that of Gosavi and Bhanushali but didnt respond to the questions on how independent witnesses were escorting the accused and their connections with the ruling party ldquoAllegations levelled against the organisation are by people who were previously affected by NCBrsquos legal action If anyone has any reservations they can approach the court we will respondrdquo he addedThis year in January NCB arrested Malikrsquos soninlaw in a drugs case ldquoI have full faith in the judiciary and if he has done anything wrong he should be punished as no one is above the law But those who are asking questions must read the chargesheet in my soninlawrsquos case and ask questions to the NCB He is out on bail and is fighting everything legallyrdquo Malik said Meanwhile responding to the allegations Opposition leader Devendra Fadnavis said it wasnrsquot difficult to understand Malikrsquos pain whenever the NCB came into the picture ldquoDo I need to say it We all know itrdquo he said