Aryan Khan Cruise Drugs Case: Key NCB Witness Prabhakar Sail, Who Levelled Extortion Allegations, Dies

Prabhakar Sail, a panch witness of the Narcotics Control Bureau in the Cordelia cruise drug case, died on Friday, April 1.

Prabhakar Sail | Twitter/@ANI

New Delhi: Prabhakar Sail, a panch witness of the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) in the Cordelia cruise drug case, died on Friday, April 1.

He died of a heart attack at his residence in Mahul area of Chembur on Friday, as per his lawyer Tushar Khandare, who was representing him, news agency ANI reported.

Mumbai | NCB's panch witness in Cordelia cruise drug case, Prabhakar Sail died yesterday. As per his lawyer Tushar Khandare, he died of a heart attack at his residence in Mahul area of Chembur yesterday.

(File pic of Prabhakar Sail) pic.twitter.com/CUplYNkuIh

— ANI (@ANI) April 2, 2022

Traditionally, panchas were five persons who acted as witnesses during police raids, and are the ones before whom police initiate an investigation. Sail arrived in the limelight after the arrest of Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan's son, Aryan Khan, in the Cordelia cruise drug case, for levelling extortion allegations.

Sail's body will be brought to his home in Andheri on Saturday, at 11 am, where he will be cremated.

He was the bodyguard of Kiran Gosavi, another witness in the case. 

Following Aryan Khan’s arrest, Maharashtra cabinet minister Nawab Malik raised the issue of a private individual like Gosavi being made a witness in the case. 

Gosavi was then arrested by Pune Police in a case pending before them, after which Sail filed an affidavit, according to reports. 

One of the documents of an NCB Special Investigation Team (SIT) stated that Sail had turned hostile. 

Sail had earlier said that he was with Gosavi on the day the cruise ship was raided. In October last year, Aryan Khan was arrested in connection with a drugs case. The Bombay High Court granted bail to Aryan Khan on October 28, after several court hearings.