Cruise drugs case: Pune police step up hunt for NCB witness KP Gosavi

The Pune police have sped up their hunt to find the Narcotics Control Bureau's (NCB) panch witness KP Gosavi, after Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray attacked the agency in his Dussehra rally speech for targetting celebrities. If sources in the government are to be believed, the Pune police are also going to find how he became the panch witness in the case of Aryan Khan, and if the claim of NCB is true that he was not known to them.

The police have arrested Gosavi's former PA and are trying to find him with her help.

The tussle between the state government and the union government has been on for the past two years. The state government has accused the union government of using Central agencies to destabilize it. Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) supremo Sharad Pawar in a press conference recently also spoke about cabinet minister Nawab Malik's son-in-law's arrest saying he was allegedly framed by the agency.

Aryan Khan outside the NCB office. File pic/Bipin Kokate

Following the strong statements by the top leaders, the Pune police who had issued a Look Out Circular (LOC) against Gosavi, arrested his former PA and a wanted accused in a 2018 cheating case in which Gosavi is absconding. The PA, identified as Sherbano Qureshi, was arrested by Faraskhana police on Monday and has been remanded in police custody till October 23. "She was one of the wanted accused in the case and we arrested her after getting reliable information," said Satish Govekar, ACP Faraskhana.

According to Pune police, Gosavi, Qureshi and others were booked in the cheating case, where they gave false advertisements on a social media site claiming to provide jobs in Malaysia and other countries. The complainant was cheated of R3.09 lakh. "The money has gone to the account of Qureshi and she was shown wanted in the case after the charge sheet was filed in 2018," a police officer said. Qureshi worked with Gosavi for few months in 2018 and was being paid R10,000 per month. The police is trying to find the whereabouts of Gosavi with the help of Qureshi.

Was Gosavi in touch with NCB?

According to sources in the government, if Pune police manage to track down Gosavi they will also check how he became the panch witness in the case, despite the fact that he is an absconding accused and has multiple cheating cases against him registered in Pune, Thane and Mumbai. In one case in Mumbai he was acquitted by the court. The police will check whether Gosavi was in touch with any NCB officer and worked as an informer. If the police get details of the cruise drug case, they will share them with the concerned department of the state government.

Gosavi's name was exposed by Malik when he gave a press conference that he (Gosavi) and a member of the BJP, Manish Bhanushali, escorted Aryan to the NCB's office. Malik claimed that the case was fabricated. The NCB said the statement made by Malik is prejudiced and baseless. The state government believes that Gosavi is an important link to the cruise drug case in which actor Shah Rukh Khan's son was arrested by the agency.