Aryan Khan, the son of Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan and producer Gauri, was arrested by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) on Sunday, October 3 in connection with the rave party busted aboard a luxury cruise ship. The star son and two others, who were detained by the NCB since Sunday morning, are likely to be produced before a magistrate court shortly. They were taken for a medical examination to a government hospital, but the NCB has not yet made any official statement on the latest development.
The action came after the NCB's dramatic swoop on October 2, Saturday evening aboard the Cordelia Cruises deluxe ship as it was preparing for a scheduled Mumbai-Goa voyage, stunning the people, especially in the entertainment industry.
Apart from Aryan Khan, the others detained were identified as Munmun Dhamecha, Nupur Sarika, Ismeet Singh, Mohak Jaswal, Vikrant Chhoker, Gomit Chopra and Arbaaz Merchant, an NCB official said, adding that different drugs such as MDMA, ecstasy, cocaine, MD (mephedrone) and charas were recovered from them during the raid conducted on Saturday evening. The anti-drug agency has registered an FIR in connection with the drugs party, he said.
Based on a tip-off that a party was scheduled on the ship, an NCB team, led by its zonal director Sameer Wankhede, had raided the Goa-bound Cordelia cruise ship on Saturday evening and recovered drugs from some of the passengers, the official said.
"During the operation, the suspects were searched and different drugs were recovered from them, which they had hidden in their clothes, undergarments and purses (by women). The detained persons will be produced in a court later in the day after the legal formalities get over," the NCB official said. Early on Sunday morning, the NCB questioned the eight people at its office in south Mumbai, he said.
Meanwhile, the cruise company in a statement on Sunday said it had nothing to do with the incident.
"Cordelia Cruises is in no way, directly or indirectly, connected to this incident. Cordelia Cruises had chartered its ship for a private event to a Delhi-based event management company," Jurgen Bailom, Chief Executive Officer and President, Waterways Leisure Tourism Pvt Ltd, said in the statement.
“Cordelia Cruises is extremely mindful of providing wholesome entertainment to families who choose to travel with it,” he said, adding that this incident is contrarian and far from the culture that Cordelia Cruises represents.
“We, at Cordelia Cruises, condemn all acts such as these and will strictly refrain from letting our ship out for similar events in the future. Nonetheless, Cordelia Cruises is extending our full support and cooperating with the authorities," it added.
(PTI and IANS)