The Narcotics Control Bureau did not find corroborative evidence against actor Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan Khan in a case about the alleged seizure of drugs on a cruise ship, the agency’s chief SN Pradhan said on Friday, PTI reported.
Pradhan made the statement a day after the Narcotics Control Bureau cleared six persons, including Aryan Khan, of charges in the case. A Special Investigation Team of the Narcotics Control Bureau, however, filed a chargesheet against 14 persons on Friday.
“The SIT found there was neither an intent to act nor there was actual act by those who have not been charged,” Pradhan said. “We, however, have the physicality of evidence in the case of the 14 accused.”
On October 2, Aryan Khan, his friend Arbaaz Merchant, model Munmum Dhamecha and five others were arrested by the Narcotics Control Bureau after a raid on a cruise ship off the coast of Mumbai.
During the raid, the agency claimed to have seized 13 grams of cocaine, five grams of mephedrone, 21 grams of charas, 22 pills of MDMA also known as ecstasy and Rs 1.3 lakh from the ship.
On October 28, the Bombay High Court granted bail to Aryan Khan, Merchant and Dhamecha, observing that there was no evidence of a conspiracy among them. The order said that Aryan Khan did not have drugs on his person the raid, despite the Narcotics Control Bureau claims in October that he had been found in “conscious possession” of contraband substances.
Pradhan on Friday said that while the investigation had been completed, there was a possibility that officials could find fresh facts about the case. Pradhan, also said that the Narcotics Control Bureau could not “immediately jump to accuse the Mumbai unit” of not failing to conduct investigation properly.
The case was made against Aryan Khan on the allegation that his drugs were being carried by his friend Arbaaz Merchant, said Special Investigation Team chief Sanjay Kumar Singh. The allegation was false, he added.
“His friend [Merchant] denied that he carried drugs for Aryan Khan,” Singh said. “In fact, he told the SIT that Aryan Khan had told him that no drugs should be brought on the cruise as NCB was very active.”
The Narcotics Control Bureau did not conduct a medical test on Khan to find out if he had consumed drugs, Singh said. Further, the bureau’s former Zonal Director
Sameer Wankhede, did not carry out videography of the raid on the cruise ship, he added.
Wankhede has not commented on the case. However, there has been a growing call for an inquiry against him for a botched investigation.
Maharashtra Home Minister Dilip Walse-Patil on Saturday demanded action against Wankhede, saying that that the allegations against Khan were false, ANI reported. “If anyone is falsely implicating an innocent person, then action should be taken against them,” he said.
Apart from Khan, the Narcotics Control Bureau cleared Samir Sehgal, Manav Singhal, Bhaskar Arora, Gopal Ji Anand and Avin Sahu in the case, Live Law reported.
Those who have been named in the chargesheet include Vikrant Chokkar, Mohak Jaswal, Ishmeet S Chadha, Gomit Chopra, Abdul Kadar Shaikh, Shreyas Surendra Nair, Manish Rajgarhia, Chinedu Igwe, Shivraj R Harijan, Nupur Satija, Okoro Uzeoma, Arbaaz Merchant, Mummun Dhamecha and Aachit Kumar.
No drugs were found on Jaiswal, the Narcotics Control Bureau said on Friday. However, Jaiswal was named in the chargesheet for procuring drugs for his friends.
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