Aryan Khan cleared in Cordelia Cruises drug bust case
What's the story
Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan's son Aryan Khan has been cleared in the Mumbai cruise ship drug bust case. The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) has not named Khan and five others in the charge sheet filed before a special Narcotics Drugs And Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) court in Mumbai. This means that the NCB was not able to find any evidence against Khan.
Context
Why does this story matter?
Khan became the talk of the town last year when he was apprehended by the NCB following a drug bust on a luxury cruise. The highly publicized case saw the star kid's arrest and bail trial. The NCB's Sameer Wankhede, who was leading the investigation, later faced extortion and dereliction of duty allegations, following which a Special Investigation Team (SIT) took over the investigation.
Details
NCB didn't find any evidence against six of 20 accused
The 6,000-page charge sheet submitted by the NCB has named 14 individuals. All of them were found in possession of narcotic substances after the central agency conducted a raid on the Cordelia Cruises' Empress ship on October 2 last year. Of the 20 accused, complaints against six accused were not filed due to a lack of evidence, said Sanjay Kumar Singh, DDG (Operations), NCB.
Earlier
SIT rubbished reports claiming no evidence was found against Khan
In March, reports had suggested the SIT of the NCB had found no evidence against Khan. It was reported that Khan was "never in possession of drugs, hence, there was no need to take his phone and check his chats." But soon thereafter, the SIT had rubbished those reports. The team maintained that nothing was to be said before a comprehensive investigation was over.
Information
Exactly seven months back, Khan was granted bail
At present, 18 of the 20 accused, including Khan, are out on bail. Speaking of bails, SRK's eldest son was given one by the Bombay High Court on October 28, 2021, and Khan was able to walk out of the jail on October 30. Notably, Khan, who was invited on Cordelia Cruises' Mumbai-Goa ship, was detained even though no drug was found on him.