Fashion TV India MD Kashiff Khan was a co-organiser of the cruise party along with Namascray?

MUMBAI: While Fashion TV MD Kashiff Khan in a press conference on Friday claimed that he was not an organiser of the cruise party on the cruise ship Cordelia The Empress, on which drugs were seized, but rather a guest like the others on board, sources at the event company Namascray have claimed otherwise.

Khan in his defense told the media that he paid for food and beverages with his own credit card and has bills to prove the same.

While Namas’cray directors Sameer Sehgal and Gopalji Anand, were arrested by the NCB and granted bail on Saturday, Fashion TV MD Kashiff Khan was not arrested.

Questions have been raised by many, including by Maharashtra minister Nawab Mallik concerning the reasons why Kashiff Khan was given special treatment by the NCB.

The event promo material mentions Fashion Tv India as the presenting sponsor or the main sponsor of the Cruise ship party.

According to NCB claims, one more arrested accused, peddler Shreyas Nair supplied narcotic substances to nearly 25 people on the cruise. MDMA pills, Mephedrone and other banned drugs were recovered from Shreyas Nair, the NCB had said.

According to sources both in Mumbai and Goa, Shreyas Nair is a Malayalee having several links with pubs, shacks and clubs in Goa. He is rumored to be a secret business partner of Kashiff Khan and the duo are often seen together at high-profile parties.

The day the raid took place, Nair was supposed to be on the cruise ship, but backed out at the last minute. It is said that he was tipped off by Kashiff Khan (who was already in the ship) about the NCB raid and kept away from the venue. He was arrested later on when his name cropped up in Aryan Khan’s WhatsApp chats after Aryan’s phone was scanned by the NCB.

Similarly, many incriminating WhatsApp chats between Nair and Kashiff Khan were found on Shreyas’ phone, claim NCB sources, but the NCB Zonal Director Sameer Wankhede did not take any action against the FTv executive.

While Shreyas Nair has been clearly labelled as a drug peddler, his close associate Kashiff Khan was not touched by the NCB.

Businessman Arjun Jain a former additional director of Namas’cray Experience Private Limited resigned from the directorship of the company on August 24 this year and was not involved in the cruise party.

According to an India Today report, Jain was in the news a few years ago for bringing international pop star Justin Bieber to Mumbai in 2017 and co-ordinating the Indian leg of his ‘Purpose Tour’.

In August this year, he was arrested (and later released on bail) for allegedly cheating a man of Rs 5 crore, by promising him huge returns from another musical event in the country.

Jain is a partner, director and additional director of a few other firms which are mostly into hospitality and event management, but fell out with the directors of Namas’cray and left the company.

Namas’cray is a Delhi-based firm registered as Caneplus Trading Private Limited and was a co-organiser along with Fashion Tv India, sources claimed. FTv India was shown as a sponsor, but was entitled to certain profits out of the event.

Namas’cray was established on 30 October 2020. The company was tasked with the management of the event onboard Cordelia Cruises’ Empress ship, from October 2 to October 4.

Arjun Jain was appointed as the additional director of Namas’cray on March 8, 2021, along with Sameer Sehgal and Gopalji Anand, who were appointed as additional directors of the firm on March 15, 2021.