Cruise ship drugs case: NCB to probe money transactions

Actor Shah Rukh Khan’s manager Pooja Dadlani is seen at the sessions court on October 20. She was seen at the NCB office on Saturday to hand over some financial documents. Pic/Suresh Karkera

The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) has widened its probe and are now digging into the financial transactions of all accused, which includes Aryan Khan. The agency suspects that some transactions could be linked to procurement of narcotics substances by the accused. The officials have said that they will look into the financial transactions of actor Ananya Pandey as well, because of the messages found in her WhatsApp chats, which they allege allude to procuring drugs.

The NCB is preparing a fresh sheet of questions for Pandey, based on certain new facts, which includes leads on financial transactions, and she is likely to be questioned about the same on Monday at 11 am. This will be her third round of questioning. There were reports about how NCB Zonal Director Sameer Wankhede had reprimanded Pandey for being late for questioning, and told her to be on time, because "this isn't her production house".

Wankhede told mid-day these reports were baseless. In a briefing, NCB officials have told the press, that they are looking into the financial transactions of all accused arrested in the case and the same will be presented before the High Court on Tuesday, as they are going to strongly oppose the bail application of Aryan and other accused. "We are digging deeper in the case and checking if there is any transactions which could have happened for the procurement of the contraband," an officer of the NCB said.

The officials said that they are not going to examine the details of family members of the accused, but only those who are linked to the case or have been questioned as suspects. Meanwhile, Shah Rukh Khan's manager Pooja Dadlani also visited the NCB office on Saturday morning to submit certain documents related to Aryan Khan, which the agency had sought when they visited the actor's residence, Mannat, on Thursday.