On Wednesday, March 2, it was reported that the Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) has found that Aryan Khan, son of Shah Rukh Khan and Gauri Khan was not a part of a larger drugs conspiracy. However, the Director-General of NCB Sanjay Singh denied those reports that an NCB probe had indicated that there was no evidence against the star kid to prove that he was linked to an international drug syndicate.
Singh was also the chief of the SIT on the alleged drug case. He said, “As far as the media reports on non-availability of evidences against Aryan Khan are concerned, these are not true and are just speculations and nothing else. These statements were not cross-checked with NCB before being published. Investigation is not yet complete and it is premature to say anything at this stage.”
The SIT had earlier stated that there is “no evidence that Aryan Khan was part of a larger drugs conspiracy or an international drugs trafficking syndicate”.
According to a report in Hindustan Times, the SIT also revealed that several irregularities in the raid came to the forefront during their investigation. They also found out that Aryan was not in possession of any drugs and so he did not have to surrender his phone and there was no need for his chats to be checked. As for the information that cropped up, Aryan’s chat did not indicate any international narcotics syndicate.
The Bombay High Court also had stated a similar statement in its bail order. The court had stated that nothing objectionable was found in the WhatsApp chats of Aryan, Munmun Dhamecha and Arbaaz Merchant who were also arrested, among several others.
The report also revealed that NCB’s cruise raid was not video-recorded. As per the NCB manual, raids are supposed to be recorded on video. Another key finding was the narcotics substance recovered from several arrested in the case was shown as single recovery. Despite no evidence against Aryan, the SIT probe is not yet fully completed. The final report will be submitted in a couple of months to NCB Director General SN Pradhan.
Aryan was arrested on October 2 in connection with a drugs raid conducted by the Narcotics Control Bureau on a cruise off Mumbai coast. Helmed by zonal director Sameer Wankhede, the NCB’s Mumbai unit raided a cruise ship off the city coast. Aryan Khan, along with several others, was arrested and accused of consumption and ‘conspiracy’, among other charges.
After several court hearings and 26 long days in custody later, the Bombay High Court granted him bail on October 28. He finally walked out of jail on October 30.
