There is no evidence that Aryan Khan, son of actor Shah Rukh Khan, was a part of a drugs conspiracy or an international drugs trafficking syndicate, as per the findings of a Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), Hindustan Times reported.
Sources close to the agency further told the publication that there were several irregularities in the raid on the cruise ship, Cordelia, during which Aryan Khan was arrested.
On October 3, 2021, Khan was taken into custody by the NCB after drugs were seized on board the cruise ship. His bail was rejected multiple times following the agency’s claim that he had played a role in the illicit procurement and consumption of drugs. The NCB had also alleged that Aryan Khan was part of a larger conspiracy and had contacts with an international drug network.
The 23-year-old Khan was eventually granted bail by the Bombay High Court and he walked out of Arthur Road jail on October 30 after spending 26 days in custody.
As per the SIT’s latest findings, there was no need to seize Aryan Khan’s phone and check his chats because he was never in possession of drugs in the first place. Nor do the chats suggest that Khan was part of any international syndicate.
Earlier, during the last hearing of the case in November, the Bombay High Court had stated that there was no positive evidence to suggest a conspiracy between the three accused – Khan, Arbaaz Merchant and Munmun Dhamecha. The SIT’s findings thus far seem to bear this out.
The HT report notes that the probe by the SIT is not yet complete and it may take a couple of months for the team to submit its final report to NCB Director General SN Pradhan. According to one of the officials at the agency, legal opinion will be obtained before making a final decision on whether Aryan Khan can be charged for consumption even though he was not carrying any drugs.
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The SIT is also probing further into the conduct of the agency’s former Mumbai Zonal Unit director Sameer Wankhede. The findings so far have uncovered that the raid on the cruise ship was not recorded on video as mandated by the NCB manual. Further, drugs recovered from multiple accused were shown as a single recovery in the records.
Update: However, as per a News18 report, the Director-General of NCB Sanjay Singh, who was also the chief of the SIT probing the drug case, denied the aforementioned findings and said that the statements were not cross-checked with the agency before publishing.
“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,” he said.