What is happening in India from Kashmir to Mumbai is a spine-chilling crime thriller — shady corporate-bureaucrat-political nexus, swinging deals and money-spinning rackets through devious routes. This is the inescapable conclusion one can reach going by allegations by high profile persons of the likes of a former governor of Jammu & Kashmir, a BJP top leader, a key witness in the cruise drug party in Mumbai and a zonal director of the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB).
First, to take up the Mumbai case that turns the country’s financial capital into a veritable extortion capital, if there is truth in what one of the prime witnesses says in a five-page statement notarised by a lawyer about the infamous rave party onboard a cruise vessel in which Shah Rukh Khan’s son, Aryan, was arrested along with seven others. The witness, Prabhkar Sail, in the alleged drugs case, claimed October 24 that investigators had made him sign on 10 sheets of blank paper at the NCB’s office on the day of their raid on the cruise ship. He also stated he had heard KP Gosavi, alleged private investigator who accompanied NCB officials on the raid in the cruise vessel, say that Rs 8 crore would have to be given to the NCB’s Mumbai-based Zonal Director Sameer Wankhede. Gosavi, who too is an NCB witness in the case against Aryan and others, is missing. Sail fears he would be killed. The NCB has denied his allegations and ordered a vigilance enquiry into the matter as of now.
Sail, a resident of Andheri in Mumbai who offers personal bodyguard services, claims to have been employed by Gosavi July 22. According to him, on the morning of the drug party, Gosavi had asked him to come to the NCB office in Mumbai. The party on board the Empress, the luxury cruise vessel owned by Cordelia Cruises, was supposed to be held that evening off the Mumbai coast.
The way Gosavi allegedly operated along with NCB officials and Sail will beat any crime thriller by the finest authors. For, he tallied the photographs sent by Gosavi to him by WhatsApp with persons joining the party and was later told by Gosavi that all those people were arrested. Then, followed a murky tale of collection of cash by Gosavi, which Sail handed over to a person allegedly recommended by the NCB official at a hotel. Thereafter, Gosavi went missing, which has prompted Sail to suspect he might have been killed for knowing too much about the nefarious deal. Sail now fears the same fate is awaiting him too for which he recorded his version of the shady operation signed by a notary.
Immediately after that, the NCB’s deputy director issued a statement questioning the admissibility of Sail’s account as legally valid evidence on technical grounds. He claimed the zonal director of the NCB Wankhede has categorically denied Sail’s allegations. It is obvious that when an allegation is made against any person, the initial reaction is denial. Therefore, Wankhede’s denial should be naturally unacceptable.
There was another twist in the case when Wankhede himself sent a complaint October 24 to the Commissioner of Mumbai Police seeking protection from ‘unknown persons’ who he said were trying to frame him in a false case. This means things are turning murkier with some key leaders of the Maharashtra government demanding probe into the whole episode.
On the other hand, BJP and RSS leader Ram Madhav October 24 demanded an investigation into files cleared and ‘deals’ struck during the tenure of Satya Pal Malik as Governor of the former state of Jammu and Kashmir. The demand follows allegations a week before by the former Governor that he had been offered a bribe of Rs 300 crore for clearing files belonging to ‘Ambani’ and a senior ‘RSS functionary’ during his tenure from August 2018 to October 2019. Malik is now the Governor of Meghalaya. Madhav had served as the BJP in-charge of J&K. He issued a veiled threat to take legal action against Malik for dragging his name into the ‘false case’, thus making it clear that the RSS leader whom Malik had not named was obviously Ram Madhav himself.
Though it is difficult at this stage to establish the truth about such allegations and counter-allegations, one thing that lends credence to apparent corruption at high places is that this time a top politician and a government functionary are trading charges against each other. It may also be presumed that Malik, as a serving Governor appointed by the BJP government, cannot afford to lie while naming such important persons and companies. There is no reason to disbelieve Malik.
The two high profile cases show how widespread the web of corruption has spread during the Modi government. Being a cohesive unit, unlike the Congress, the BJP government does not permit leakage of information regarding corruption at high places. However watertight one may try to make the system, the leakages are obviously opening up.