SIT probe points to errors by NCB’S original team

NO MEDICAL EXAMINATION WAS CONDUCTED ON ANY OF THOSE ARRESTED TO PROVE DRUG CONSUMPTION, THE S.I.T. HAS SAID

NEW DELHI: A seven-month investigation by a special investigation team (SIT) of the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) in the Cordelia cruise drugs bust on the night of October 2, 2021 revealed a series of lacunae on the part of the original team led by the agency’s then zonal director Sameer Wankhede, officials familiar with the matter said on Friday.

Cooked-up witnesses, poor documentation, not conducting medical tests on the accused, not video-recording the raid, projecting a larger conspiracy when there was none — these are among the several fallacies noted by the SIT about the operation in which actor Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan Khan and several others were arrested.

SIT head Sanjay Kumar Singh said the basic premise of the charges against Aryan — that he has asked his friend Arbaaz Merchant to bring drugs to the cruise ship — has been found “fallacious”.

“In fact, Aryan warned Arbaaz not to bring drugs as the NCB was very active. So, when the consumption charge against Aryan doesn’t stick, his phone was opened without following legal procedure,” Singh said.

Wankhede’s team had cited Whatsapp chats of Aryan to claim he was part of an international drug syndicate, but the SIT found that officials accessed his phone even though he had refused to give them the password. His phone was also taken into custody without following any procedure.

During his questioning by the SIT, Aryan admitted to consumption of marijuana on “experimental” basis when he was in Los Angeles, but the SIT has not found any international link to the case.

NCB chief S N Pradhan said “Whatsapp chats alone are not enough to prove the case. It requires corroborative, physical evidence and there was no recovery of drugs (from Aryan)”.

Singh’s team found that the Wankhede-led team didn’t videorecord the raids, as mandated by the NCB manual.

Also, no medical examination was conducted on any of the arrested accused, including Aryan, to prove that they had consumed drugs. “This is a key legal requirement to prove drug consumption charges. It was not followed,” said Singh.

Another major anomaly the SIT found in the probe carried out by Wankhede’s team is that Prabhakar Sail, who was cited as one of the main witnesses in the raid, was made to sign multiple blank papers. “Sail, who died due to a heart attack in April, told us that he didn’t witness any drug recovery,” said Singh.

The SIT head also told HT that four Cordelia event organisers, who have now been given a clean chit, were arrested despite having no knowledge about any drugs. “We checked their contract and found they were not responsible for frisking, checking and ensuring people boarding were going to consume drugs on the cruise,” he said.