A Mumbai court on Sunday remanded former Dharma Productions‘ executive Kshitij Prasad to the Narcotics Control Bureau’s custody till October 3. Amidst news of his arrest, reports doing the rounds claim that the NCB allegedly “forced” Prasad to falsely implicate Karan Johar and other top personalities of Dharma Productions.

In a Times Now report, Satish Maneshinde, who is representing Rhea Chakraborty, alleged that Kshitij was subjected to coercion by the agency and was allegedly “forced” to implicate Johar and other personalities. Reports further go on to claim that Prasad was even “ill-treated” during his interrogation and was allegedly made to sit on the floor during his questioning round.

#Breaking | Lawyer Satish Maneshinde makes sensational allegations; claims that Kshitij Prasad was forced by NCB to… https://t.co/ZGJmRRDYL0

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However, Deputy DG NCB (South West) Mutha Ashok Jain rubbished the allegations, and claimed that the investigation was carried out in a “professional manner.”

While the NCB, in their petition seeking police custody, claimed that it recovered a roll joint believed to be the remnants of a smoked Ganja roll, and seized certain documents and gadgets. Prasad has denied all the charges and claimed that he is being “framed.”

Prasad was nabbed on Saturday evening by the NCB after his sustained interrogation subsequent to his name cropping up during the probe of the other accused. He was produced before a Magistrate Court by the NCB seeking his remand for 9 days, but the court granted six days.

In a 7-page remand application, the NCB Joint Intelligence Officer Murari Lal said that Sanket Patel, a peddler who had been arrested earlier, had supplied Ganja to Prasad on the orders of another co-accused Karamjeet Singh Anand.

According to a report on ANI, the NCB said that Prasad is indirectly connected with Anuj Keshwani – from whom commercial quantities of narcotics were seized.

With Prasad’s arrest, the total netted by the NCB in the drugs case has touched 20 till Sunday. While some are in NCB custody, others are in judicial custody and the rest have been enlarged on bail by various courts.

Meanwhile, filmmaker Karan Johar has distanced himself from the probe. He issued a statement late Friday night, denying claims that Prasad was associated with his organisation.

In his post, Karan said that Kshitij had joined Dharmatic Entertainment, a sister concern of Dharma Productions, in November 2019 as one of the executive producers “on contract basis for a project, which did not eventually materialise.”