Capping a months-long ordeal for Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan Khan, the Narcotics Control Bureau’s chargesheet into the Cordelia cruise drugs bust case excludes the 24-year-old’s name, effectively clearing him in the case.
Besides Aryan Khan, a clean chit has also been given to five others — Avin Shahu, Gopal ji Anand, Samir Saighan, Bhaskar Aroda and Manav Singhal. While Shahu was on the cruise ship, the others were organisers of the event.
Aryan Khan was named an accused in the case along with 19 others by the NCB last year. The 24-year-old was arrested by the anti-drugs agency on October 3, 2021 following a raid on the Cordelia cruise ship off the coast of Mumbai.
The 20 people were booked under relevant sections of the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act (NDPS) for possession, consumption, sale/purchase of banned drugs, conspiracy and abetment, among others.
On October 28, the Bombay High Court granted bail to Aryan Khan, and two others observing that there was no prima facie evidence of the three having been part of the alleged conspiracy related to the case.
The NCB had claimed to have busted an alleged drugs party on the cruise ship, which was on its way to Goa, at mid-sea on October 2 night, and recovered banned substances.
Filing its first chargesheet into the high-profile case on Friday, the Special Investigation Team of the NCB has named 14 accused. The 6,000-page chargesheet which runs into 10 volumes as excluded the names of Aryan Khan and five others due to lack of sufficient evidence.
The chargesheet has been filed against drug peddlers who allegedly supplied drugs seized in the case. But no charges have been framed for consumption of drugs, sources told News18.com.
“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 SIT, a complaint against 14 persons under various sections of NDPS Act is being filed. Complaint against rest 06 persons is not being filed due to lack of sufficient evidence,” said Sanjay Kumar Singh, Deputy Director General (Ops) NCB in a statement.
“Based on an input, NCB Mumbai on 02.10.2021, intercepted Vikrant, Ishmeet, Arbaaz, Aryan and Gomit at International Port Terminal, MbPT and Nupur, Mohak and Munmun at the Cordelia Cruise. All the accused persons were found in possession of Narcotics except Aryan and Mohak,” he added.
The case saw several twists and turns that led to political mudslinging as well. On November 5, 2021, the NCB removed Mumbai zonal unit Sameer Wankhede from the case and transferred the investigation to its operations unit based in Delhi. Wankhede was facing a departmental vigilance probe after an independent witness in the case claimed extortion bid by those involved.
