ROURKELA: The spate of arrests by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) in the high-profile rave party on a cruiseliner off Mumbai that grabbed the headlines includes two youths from Rourkela. Three more are believed to be under investigation.
Reliable sources said Manish Rajgaria and Avin Sahu were in the cruise and arrested after NCB raid on the rave party in which Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan was held for alleged possession of narcotics substances.
According to sources in NCB, the agency had a launched follow-up operation in which eight persons were arrested on October 4 and 5. The eight included Shreyas Surendra Nair, Gopal Jee Anand, Samir Sehgal, Manav Singhal, Bhaskar Arora besides Manish and Avin.
The bureau sleuths had seized 2.5 grams of ecstasy, 54.3 grams of mephedrone, small quantity of charas and cannabis from possessions of the eight. There were four operations carried out in the last two days.
As per preliminary reports, Manish was caught with a small quantity of ‘ganja’, while Avin was held for being a consumer of narcotics substance. Both were produced before a court on Tuesday. Three others from Rourkela are also reportedly facing NCB investigation.
Manish is the son of a Rourkela-based entrepreneur who also owns a sponge iron plant. Avin’s father owns a jewellery store. Manish’s family sources confirmed that he has been charged with possession of 2.4 gram ganja. They added that the youth and few friends had gone on a pleasure trip and were guests in the party.
“We are unaware how he got in the rave party and the incident has left us in shock and pain,” said a kin who is now in Mumbai. Informed sources said, more than 30 youths in different groups of common friends had left Rourkela recently on pleasure trips and five had boarded the cruise ship for Goa.
“For some wealthy families, such pleasure trips are common. Covid pandemic had cast a spanner for last year and a half. However, after the curbs were lifted, many were headed for vacations,” said the sources.
Another source said, rave parties and indulgences are always on the list of the pleasure-seeking population but none expected to be exposed.