Actor Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan Khan is finally seen getting a clean chit in the cruise drugs case. No evidence has been found against him to prove that he was part of a larger conspiracy or an international drug smuggling syndicate. In fact contrary to the allegations of the unit of NCB Mumbai, the SIT (Special Investigation Team) has shared with HT some of the findings of its investigation which states that Aryan Khan was not in possession of any drugs.
The investigation team says that Aryan Khan’s chat does not reveal that he was part of any international syndicate, besides irregularities were committed during the raid on the cruise. No video-recording was done during the raid as mandated by the NCB manual. The SIT seems to have questioned the logic of the investigation and the conduct of Sameer Wankhede, former director of the agency’s Mumbai regional unit, in the raids. Wankhede has been sent back to his parent cadre and has been questioned several times by both the SIT and the agency’s vigilance team to ascertain the truth in the case.
However, the investigation by the SIT to ensure everything is not complete and it may take a few months for the Director General of NCB SN Pradhan to submit his final report. An official said a legal opinion would be taken before the final decision, which would look into the aspect whether Khan can be charged for taking drugs even though he is not taking any drugs.
Wankhede led a team of officers and some vehicles to raid the Cordelia, a cruise ship, at the International Cruise Terminal at Mumbai’s Green Gate on the night of October 2 last year. The NCB had seized 13 grams of cocaine, five grams of mephedrone, 21 grams of marijuana, 22 pills of MDMA (Ecstasy) and ₹1.33 lakh in cash from the cruise ship.