Aryan Khan drugs case: NCB 'needle of suspicion' on some officers over lapses in probe
Darpan News Desk IANS, 18 Oct, 2022 11:20 AM
Mumbai, Oct 18 (IANS) A Special Investigation Team of the Narcotics Control Bureau has detected lapses into the probe against Aryan Khan - the son of megastar Shah Rukh Khan -in the cruiser drugs case and has pointed the "needle of suspicion" on at least 7-8 officers.
Sources said that the SIT findings have been submitted to the NCB headquarters in New Delhi - nearly six months after Aryan Khan and others got a 'clean chit' in the case in May.
The report is understood to have detailed how Aryan Khan was deliberately targeted in the entire affair, the shoddy manner in which the entire probe into the cruiser drugs case was done, with many shortcomings in the investigation perpetrated by the NCB officers assigned to the sensitive case - which grabbed global headlines in October 2021.
Apparently, the probe was pushed ahead even though there was not sufficient evidence, and statements of some five dozen persons were recorded multiple times as they kept changing their versions.
The NCB sources said the conduct of around 7-8 officers was found to be suspicious in this case and some other drugs bust cases, for which a departmental probe has been recommended.
The NCB, led by its then Mumbai head Sameer Wankhede had carried out a high-profile raid on the cruise ship off Mumbai harbour last October and arrested 20 persons including Aryan Khan.
After a huge controversy, the probe was taken over by a NCB team from Delhi and Wankhede was transferred.
Special NDPS Judge V.V. Patil also declined the bail applications of Arbaaz Merchant and Munmun Dhamecha, the two others accused in the drug case lodged by Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB).
The unverifiable reports, attributed to unidentified NCB sources, claimed that Aryan Khan was purportedly 'full of guilt and remorse' over his recent actions leading to his arrest and custody since the past 17 days.
It was last year, when Rhea made headlines after she was accused by Sushant's family for abetment to suicide and also siphoning off funds from the late actor. She was also named in a Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) chargesheet along with her brother Showik in a drug-related probe into Sushant's death case.
In a huge setback to Aryan Khan, a Mumbai special NDPS court on Thursday reserved its order on his and other co-accused's bail applications till October 20, even as the NCB virtually labelled him a 'junkie' regularly consuming drugs.
Produced by Ronnie Screwvala, Neha Anand and Pranjal Khandhdiya, written by Nanda Periyasamy, Aniruddha Guha and Kanika Dhillon and directed by Akarsh Khurana, 'Rashmi Rocket' also stars Supriya Pathak, Abhishek Banerjee, Priyanshu Painyuli and Supriya Pilgaonkar.
The agency also accused Aryan Khan of being in touch with some persons abroad who could be part of an international illegal drug syndicate and it is continuing further investigations to unearth his links to contact the foreign agency through proper channels.
