Prabhakar Sail, who was the Narcotics Control Bureau’s panch witness in Cordelia cruise drug case, passed away on Friday. His lawyer Tushar Khandare told ANI that Prabhakar Sail suffered a fatal heart attack at his residence in Mahul area of Chembur. He was reportedly 36 years old.
Prabhakar Sail was a bodyguard to K P Gosavi, who was a witness in the drug bust case. Prabhakar Sail had filed an affidavit levelling serious allegations of a payoff to NCB zonal chief Sameer Wankhede, in the drug raid that led to the arrest of actor Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan. Prabhakar Sail was also given police protection by the MVA government.
According to Indian media, Prabhakar Sail had claimed on October 3 that while escorting Gosavi, he overheard him discussing a demand of Rs 25 crore and his willingness to “settle” at Rs 18 crore, of which Rs 8 crore was to be allegedly paid to Wankhede. In his statement recorded before the DCP Zone 1, Sail had mentioned that he had interacted with Shah Rukh Khan’s manager Pooja Dadlani too. Following his allegations, the had NCB initiated a vigilance inquiry and Wankhede denied all the allegations.
Months after his release on bail, Aryan Khan was exempted from appearing before the Narcotics Control Bureau’s (NCB) office every Friday. Earlier this week, a special NDPS court granted the NCB's SIT an additional 60 days to submit its chargesheet in the cruise drugs bust case.