Ajgaonkar himself partly responsible for drug menace in Goa: Sagarika Shona Suman

PANAJI: Responding to state Tourism Minister Manohar Ajgaonkar reaction to the arrest of Aryan Khan, the son of Shah Rukh Khan in a narcotics case, model and actress Sagarika Shona Suman said Ajgaonkar is himself partly responsible for the drug menace in Goa.

Suman has a rented house in Siolim in North Goa and spends many months in Goa, when she is not shooting.

Ajgaonkar’s inaction, resulting in the easy availability of drugs in the state, is the main reason that Goa has become a drug haven for tourists who travel to the state to do drugs.

Several politicians are hand-in-glove with the drug mafia in Goa. I do not want to take names, but every Goan knows the Pablo Escobars of Goa, Suman said, speaking to media persons in Mumbai at the Esplanade court (also known as the Killa court), where the 12 accused along with Aryan Khan were produced for remand.

Azgaonkar had claimed he doesn’t need people who take drugs to come to Goa as tourists.

“We do not want people who take drugs. We are strict,” news agency IANS quoted Ajgaonkar as saying.

The minister made the remarks when he was asked to react to the arrest of 23-year-old Aryan Khan by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) officials onboard a cruise liner travelling from Mumbai to Goa.

An NCB team had on Saturday evening busted an alleged drugs party on the Cordelia Cruise ship which was on its way to Goa at mid-sea. Eight persons were detained for questioning by the NCB allegedly in connection with the drug seizure on the cruise ship, according to NCB Mumbai Director Sameer Wankhede.

When Ajgaonkar was asked about the Tourism Ministry’s plan to tackle the menace of drugs amongst the tourists, he stressed that the issue comes under the purview of the home department and is not in his jurisdiction.