‘Never met Sushant’: Goa hotelier Arya in Mumbai to join probe

Mumbai, Aug 30 (IANS) Goa-based hotelier Gaurav Arya – whose name figured in WhatsApp chats of actress Rhea Chakraborty, arrived in Mumbai on Sunday to join the probe in the alleged drugs and money laundering angle in the late actor Sushant Singh Rajput case.

Though he declined to speak with the media in Mumbai, at Panaji, he said that he had no connection with the case and was being framed.

“I did not know Sushant personally, nor had ever met him. I had met her (Rhea) in 2017… I have no connection whatsoever in the Sushant case,” he said.

The owner of Hotel Tamarind and Cafe Cotinga in Goa, Arya will appear before the Enforcement Directorate on Monday morning.

Later, he is also likely to be questioned by the Central Bureau of Investigation and Narcotics Control Bureau teams in the city.

Last week, after his name cropped in the messages, an ED team visited the Hotel Tamarind in Anjuna, north Goa, but the property was shut owing to the Covid pandemic restrictions.

They pasted a notice on the hotel doors directing Arya to come and meet ED Assistant Director Rajiv Kumar on Monday (August 31) at 11 a.m., in connection with a case filed under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.

–IANS

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