A Mumbai court on Sunday remanded former Dharma Productions' executive Kshitij R. Prasad to the Narcotics Control Bureau's custody till October 3, officials said here.
Prasad has been accused of procuring narcotics from a businessman, is part of a 'conspiracy' for drugs procurements, and is directly or indirectly connected with several peddlers or suppliers who have been arrested in the ongoing investigations so far.
However, he has denied all the charges against him and claimed that he was being framed in the case. Now, going by the reports of Times Now, Kshitij's lawyer has made some sensational claims. Kshitij slammed the NCB and claimed that the agency harassed him and forced him to take Karan Johar's name in his statement.
Satish Maneshinde's statement read, "The NCB team began insisting it was a ganja joint even though there was nothing to suggest that and even drew up a panchnama to that effect despite his protests. Upon his wife’s insistence, the word ‘believed’ to be a ganja joint was inserted in the panchnama. Kshitij was then taken to the NCB office post the search of his house at around 11:30 am, along with two of his friends, Isha and Anubhav."
“Around 6.45 pm, Kshitij’s questioning finally began where a person, by the name of Sanket, who appeared to be very friendly and comfortable with the NCB officers was brought into a room with him and Officer Sameer Wankhede along with other officers. Sanket was asked if he knew Kshitij and stated that he did not recognize him. Kshitij was immediately asked by Sameer Wankhede (Zonal Director of NCB) to leave the room and when he was called back 5 minutes later, Sanket suddenly proclaimed that he knew Kshitij and could recognize him from his WhatsApp picture. Kshitij has never met Sanket and did not recognize him,” added the statement.
It also said, "The next morning when his statement recording resumed, Kshitij was categorically informed by Sameer Wankhede in the presence of several other officers, that since he was associated with Dharma Productions, they would let him off if he implicated either Karan Johar, Somel Mishra , Rakhi, Apoorva, Neeraj or Rahil falsely alleging that they consumed drugs. Kshitij refused to comply with this despite the pressure being mounted on him as he did not know any of these people personally and did not wish to falsely implicate anyone."
On the other hand, the NCB has refused such allegations by the lawyer and said that they are a very professional agency. Amidst raising questions on the NCB, the drug law enforcement agency's chief Rakesh Asthana has given his team the instructions that they are not behind a single person but they are in a pursuit to bust drug cartel.
Interestingly, Satish Maneshinde is also the lawyer of Rhea Chakraborty and other arrested people in the drugs case by the NCB.