Cruise drugs case: NCB gives clean chit to Aryan Khan

Mumbai: 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 input, NCB Mumbai had on October 2, 2021, intercepted Vikrant, Ishmeet, Arbaaz, Aryan and Gromit at International Port Terminal, Mumbai Port Trust, and Nupur, Mohawk, and Munmum at the Cordelia Cruise. All the accused persons were found in possession of narcotics except Aryan and Mohawk.”

”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 an 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 the rest of the six persons is not being filed due to the 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.