The drugs probe by the Narcotics Control Bureau into the CBI-led investigation of Sushant Singh Rajput’s mysterious death on June 14, has taken an unexpected turn. Former executive producer Kshitij Prasad of Dharmatic Entertainment, the digital content arm of Karan Johar’s Dharma Productions, alleged in court yesterday that the NCB had forced him to falsely implicate KJo and other executives of the production company in a case of alleged consumption of drugs.
Kshitij, who was summoned by the NCB on Friday in connection with its probe of the alleged “drugs nexus” in Bollywood, was arrested on Saturday. However, the agency’s Deputy DG (South West), Mutha Ashok Jain, refuted the allegation and said the investigation was being carried out in a “professional manner”. Kshitij was part of Dharmatic Entertainment in November 2019.
The NCB claimed that the remains of a smoked ganja joint was seized from his house. It told the court yesterday that another accused had alleged that Kshitij made bank and cash payments to the tune of Rs 3,500 each on around a dozen occasions between May and July for the purchase of ganja.
However, Kshitij’s lawyer Satish Maneshinde said that his client – who was produced by video-conference before the metropolitan magistrate – was being “harassed and blackmailed” by NCB investigators. He said Kshitij had told the court that his statement had been recorded by Sameer Wankhede, in-charge of the Mumbai unit of the NCB, “wherein various patently false claims were inserted despite his protests”, and the statement was not recorded as per his narration.
“Wankhede, in the presence of several other officers, reportedly told Kshitij that since he was associated with Dharma Productions, they would let him off if he implicated Karan Johar and some others, falsely alleging that they consumed drugs. Kshitij refused to comply despite the pressure as he did not know any of these people personally and did not wish to falsely implicate anyone,” Maneshinde said. Wankhede denied the allegations. “It is routine practice on the part of the accused to make such allegations,” he said.
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