Mumbai: Prabhakar Sail, an independent witness of the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) in the drugs-on-cruise case involving Aryan Khan, has died of a heart attack, police said Saturday. Maharashtra Home Minister Dilip Walse-Patil said the death was suspicious. He has ordered Director General of Police Rajnish Seth to conduct a probe.
“Prabhakar Sail, 37, died of a heart attack at his house in Mahul (in Mumbai) Friday evening,” a police official said. “He was rushed to the civic-run Rajawadi Hospital in Ghatkopar where he was declared brought dead,” the official added.
Wasle-Patil told reporters that he did not think that the death of Sail did not happen naturally. “The sudden death of Sail looks suspicious and I have ordered the DGP to probe the matter,” Walse-Patil told reporters.
Police initiated a probe by registering an ‘Accidental Death Report’ at suburban RCF Police Station. Sail was living in a rented house in Mahul area for the last few days, said a senior police official. He added it was not immediately known why he had shifted there.
Sail’s lawyer Tushar Khandare confirmed that he suffered a heart attack, and said Sail’s family members did not suspect foul play.
Sail had claimed to be the bodyguard of NCB witness KP Gosavi. He had alleged in an affidavit that he had heard Gosavi discussing Rs 25 crore pay-off deal to let off Aryan, son of Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan, in an alleged drug seizure case. The NCB had told a court later that Sail has turned hostile.
Aryan Khan was arrested during an NCB raid on a cruise ship off the Mumbai coast October 3, 2021. He and 19 others were booked under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act for alleged possession, consumption, sale/purchase of banned drugs, conspiracy and abetment. Aryan and 17 others got bail while only two accused are currently in judicial custody.