Aryan Khan cruise ship drug bust: BJP workers on board ship were NCB informers, provided intel on guests

MUMBAI: According to information available as well as media reports, BJP workers like Manish Bhanushali who hails from Kalyan-Dombivili were the main informers of the Narcotics Control Bureau for this raid and provided information on the guests who were doing drugs on the cruise ship.

Manish Bhanushali – a BJP workers from the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) and another associate had tipped off the NCB officials on the alleged drug party.

Bhanushali who lives in Dombivli is BJP worker and till 2018 used to hold small posts at local party level in the city. In 2010, he unsuccessfully contested the Kalyan-Dombivli Municipal Corporation (KDMC) election. He is a police informer or khabri, providing info to various law enforcement agencies on alleged criminal activities in the area, information that is sourced through his network of party workers.

In the current drug bust, he is a panch witness and has signed the raid and search panchnamas as a citizen witness.

Besides Bhanushali, a private detective KP Gosavi is the man seen in TV footage, holding SRK’s son Aryan Khan’s hand and leading him to the NCB office on Sunday. The duo – Bhanushali and Gosavi are spot panchas or witnesses, and on the NCB payroll as khabris. Besides getting paid, it helps them build personal contacts and links with officials in law enforcement, that come handy for their personal as well as party work.