Maharashtra minister Nawab Malik on Friday alleged that the recent drug cases involving film personalities are part of a conspiracy to malign the industry and move Bollywood out of Mumbai.

The Nationalist Congress Party leader’s comments came a day after Aryan Khan, son of actor Shah Rukh Khan, was granted bail in a drug case. Khan and seven others had been arrested by the Narcotics Control Bureau after a raid on a cruise ship off the coast of Mumbai on October 2.

The 23-year-old’s lawyers had repeatedly argued in courts that no drugs were found on him and that he was arrested on flimsy grounds.

At a press conference on Friday, Malik linked Aryan Khan’s case to the arrest of actor Rhea Chakraborty last year. During the investigation of the death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput, the Narcotics Control Bureau had accused Chakraborty and 32 others of consumption and peddling of drugs.

“A conspiracy is being hatched with the help of [Narcotics Control Bureau official] Sameer Wankhede,” Malik claimed on Friday. “Starting from Rhea Chakraborty, Wankhede paraded a number a film artists, but not a single arrest has been made.”

Malik also claimed that the Bharatiya Janata Party was conspiring to move the film industry to Noida, Uttar Pradesh, by maligning Mumbai and Bollywood.

“Yogi maharaj [Uttar Chief Minister Adityanath] wants to build a film city in Noida,” Malik asserted. “He met a few people in this regard at Taj Hotel [in Mumbai]...Yogi maharaj is under a pretence if he thinks he can make a UPwood.”

The Nationalist Congress Party leader also responded to Wankhede’s wife, who had criticised him for a “personal attack” against her family. On Thursday, she wrote to Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray seeking his intervention in the matter.

“His family wrote to chief minister yesterday [saying] that they are Marathis and being a Marathi chief minister [he] should help them,” Malik said at the press conference. “Nawab Malik’s family too has been in this city for 70 years. I was born in 1959 and have been a citizen of this city. Is Nawab Malik not a Marathi?”

Malik has levelled a number of allegations against Wankhede since the arrest of Aryan Khan.

The Maharashtra minister claimed that Wankhede used forged documents to get his job under the Scheduled Caste quota and that he has been illegally tapping phones. He has also accused the Narcotics Control Bureau zonal director of being part of an extortion racket linked to drug-related cases against Bollywood actors.

‘Will expose nexus between Wankhede, BJP leaders’

Malik told reporters on Friday that he will expose a connection between Wankhede and some BJP leaders during the the Winter Session of the Maharashtra Assembly, reported PTI. The session will start from December 7.

“It will be a stormy session and once those names are out, the BJP leaders will not be able to show their face in public,” he claimed.

The NCP leader also alleged that Kashif Khan, the head of FashionTV, had organised the cruise party from which Aryan Khan was arrested. He claimed that Kashif Khan had also advertised about the party on social media, but the Narcotics Control Bureau did not summon him for an inquiry.

“One NCB official even told me that whenever they tried to take action against Kashif Khan, Sameer Wankhede opposed them,” he claimed. “It is a murky business and more such cases will surface in the coming days.”

Malik also referred to his tweet “picture is not over” after Aryan Khan got bail, and said that he and Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut would have to complete the “picture”.

“The picture will be over with Sameer Wankhede losing his job and facing legal action for forging documents to get recruited via reserved quota for SC category,” he said. “He was born in a Muslim family, but he forged his birth certificate to get this job.”

Earlier, on the Nationalist Congress Party leader’s tweet, Raut had told reporters: “Malik has shown you the picture till interval. Rest of the part will be completed by me.”