Drugs-on-cruise case: NCB gives clean chit to Aryan Khan

The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) on Friday gave a clean chit to Aryan Khan, son of Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan, in the drugs-on-cruise case, in which he was arrested last year.

Besides Aryan Khan, 19 other accused were arrested in the case. All the accused, except two, are currently out on bail.

In a statement, the NCB said, "Based on an input, NCB Mumbai had on October 2, 2021 intercepted Vikrant, Ishmeet, Arbaaz, Aryan and Gomit at International Port Terminal, Mumbai Port Trust, and Nupur, Mohak and Munmum at the Cordelia Cruise. All the accused persons were found in possession of narcotics except Aryan and Mohak."

"Initially, the case was investigated by NCB Mumbai. Later, an SIT from NCB headquarters in New Delhi headed by Sanjay Kumar Singh, DDG (Operations), was constituted to investigate the case, which was taken over by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) on November 11, 2021," the anti-drug agency said.

SIT carried out its investigation in objective manner. The touchstone of the principle of proof beyond reasonable doubt has been applied. Based on the investigation carried out by the SIT, a complaint against 14 persons under various sections of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act is being filed, it said, adding that complaint against rest six persons is not being filed due to lack of sufficient evidence.

Meanwhile, the NCB submitted a charge-sheet in the case on Friday. It submitted the charge-sheet before the registry and the special NDPS court will take its cognizance after the verification of the documents.

In March this year, the special court had granted a 60-day extension to the probe agency to file the charge-sheet.

Aryan Khan was arrested in the case by the NCB on October 3 last year and was released from jail later that month after being granted bail.

The officer in charge of the investigation, Sameer Wankhede, was dropped and faced allegations of deliberately targeting Aryan Khan and even trying to blackmail the accused.

The case was also transferred from a Mumbai-based team of the NCB to a Delhi-based team after irregularities and lapses in the probe emerged.