ARYAN GETS CLEAN CHIT

NCB clears Shah Rukh Khan’s son and five others of drug charges

The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) on Friday gave a clean chit to Aryan Khan, son of Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan, in the October 2021 ‘drugs on cruise’ case in which he was arrested last year.

Officials of the NCB, which filed its chargesheet in a Mumbai court, said Aryan Khan and five others had not been named due to “lack of sufficient evidence”.

“Initial investigation has found many flaws in the way then Zonal Director Sameer Wankhede handled the case,” the NCB said.

Asserting that its special investigation team (SIT) carried out its probe in an “objective manner”, the federal anti-drugs agency said in a statement in Delhi that “the touchstone of the principle of proof beyond reasonable doubt has been applied”.

LACK OF EVIDENCE

“Based on the investigation carried out by the SIT, a complaint against 14 persons under various sections of the NDPS Act is being filed (before a Mumbai court). Complaint against rest 6 persons is not being filed due to lack of sufficient evidence,” it said.

It added that eight people were arrested by the NCB’s Mumbai zonal office on October 2 last year from the international cruise terminal and the vessel that was operated by a company called Cordelia. The accused were Vikrant, Ishmeet, Arbaaz, Ayan, Gomit, Nupur, Mohak and Munmun. “All the accused persons were found in possession of narcotics except Aryan (Khan) and Mohak (Jaiswal),” the NCB said.

LOOPHOLES

“The Special Investigation Team was formed because there were irregularities in the investigation at the local level. There were some loopholes and the SIT was formed to fix them. We also took action against some officials,” NCB chief SN Pradhan said at the presser. “There should be physical corroboration of WhatsApp chat. Courts have clarified that WhatsApp chat, in itself, holds no value,” NCB head.

Aryan Khan was arrested in the case by the NCB on October 3 last year and released from jail later that month after being granted bail. The NCB submitted its chargesheet before the registry and the special NDPS court will take cognizance after verification of the documents.

In March this year, the special court had granted the probe agency a 60day extension to file the chargesheet.

Arrests in the case were made by the NCB zonal office under its former director Sameer Wankhede and his team.

On November 6 last year, the NCB headquarters removed Wankhede from the probe and transferred the case and five more from Mumbai to a Delhi-based SIT formed under its deputy director general (operations) Sanjay

Kumar Singh.

The Central Government on Friday directed the competent authority to take appropriate action against the former NCB official Sameer Wankhede for his shoddy investigation.

“I am very relieved & I am sure that the young man & his father are equally relieved. Truth has prevailed. It is unfortunate that he has to spend 25 days in jail”

— Swati Chaturvedi,

journalist & writer

— MUKUL ROHATGI, Aryan’s lawyer