Months after Aryan Khan, son of Bollywood icon Shah Rukh Khan, was arrested, the special investigation team (SIT) of the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) has reportedly found that there was no evidence that Aryan was part of a larger drugs conspiracy or international drug trade. In an exclusive report, Neeraj Chauhan of the Hindustan Times reported that, according to sources in the NCB, there were also irregularities during the NCB’s raid on the cruise ship Cordelia, during which Aryan and others were arrested.
Aryan and two others — Arbaaz Merchant and Mumnum Dhamecha — were arrested under the stringent NDPS Act. After his bail was rejected by a special NCB court in Mumbai, Aryan had moved the Bombay High Court for bail. During the hearing, the NCB had alleged that, based on his WhatsApp chats, Aryan was involved in an international drug trade. The NCB, during its raid, seized 13 grams of cocaine, five grams of mephedrone, 21 grams of marijuana, 22 MDMA pills and Rs 1.33 lakh in cash from the Cordelia cruise ship. However, according to the HT report, the SIT has so far found that Aryan Khan was never in possession of any drugs, and in light of this, there was never any need to seize his phone to examine his WhatsApp chats.
In another major finding, the SIT’s investigation also reportedly shows that there were procedural lapses on the part of the NCB team that raided the cruise ship, headed by Sameer Wankhede. NCB sources told Hindustan Times that the raid was not video-recorded, as is the protocol laid down by the NCB manual. “The SIT probe seems to raise more questions over the raid itself, and the conduct of the agency’s former Mumbai Zonal Unit director Sameer Wankhede,” the HT report says. The NCB transferred the investigation of the case from a five-member team headed by Wankhede to the SIT in November 2021, after a key witness in the case alleged that Wankhede was involved in an extortion racket targeting Aryan, for Rs 25 crore.
Another key finding of the SIT’s probe so far, the report states, highlights another irregularity in the NCB’s raid — the drugs seized by multiple accused were shown as a single recovery. While the SIT’s investigation is still pending, so far, it reportedly seems to corroborate the Bombay High Court’s finding that Aryan was not involved in any international drug conspiracy. "Merely because the applicants were travelling on the cruise, that by itself cannot be termed as satisfying foundation for invoking provisions of section 29 (conspiracy) of the NDPS Act," the Bombay HC said while granting bail to Aryan.
However, the NCB has dismissed the report as "speculation". "As far as media reports on non-availability of evidence against Aryan Khan are concerned, these are not true and just speculation. Investigation is not yet completed and it is premature to say anything at this stage,"SIT chief & NCB DDG (operation) Sanjay Singh said.