The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) has given Shah Rukh Khan's son Aryan Khan and five others a clean chit in the Mumbai cruise drugs case.
"All the accused persons were found in possession of narcotics except Aryan and Mohak ," Sanjay Kumar Singh, DDG (Operations), NCB, said in a statement on Friday.
"A complaint against 14 persons under various sections of the NDPS Act is being filed. Complaint against rest six persons is not being filed due to a lack of evidence," Sanjay Kumar Singh was quoted by news agency ANI as saying.
What's the Aryan Khan caseCruise drug bust case | All the accused persons were found in possession of Narcotics except Aryan and Mohak, reads a statement of Sanjay Kumar Singh, DDG (Operations), NCB
— ANI (@ANI) May 27, 2022
Actor Shah Rukh Khan's son Aryan Khan, along with his co-accused, Arbaaz Merchant and Munmun Dhamecha, was arrested in October last year following raids by the NCB on a cruise ship off Mumbai coast.
A total of 20 accused were arrested in the case. They were booked under relevant sections of the NDPS Act for possession, consumption, sale/purchase of banned drugs and conspiracy and abetment.
In a statement, the NCB said, "Based on an input, NCB Mumbai had on October 2, 2021 intercepted Vikrant, Ishmeet, Arbaaz, Aryan and Gomit at International Port Terminal, Mumbai Port Trust, and Nupur, Mohak and Munmum at the Cordelia Cruise. All the accused persons were found in possession of narcotics except Aryan and Mohak."
"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.
After several court hearings, the Bombay High Court granted Aryan bail on October 28 and he finally walked out of jail on October 30. Shah Rukh Khan's actor-friend Juhi Chawla stood as surety for the 23-year-old before the special court.
The high court had later made available its operative order in which it imposed 14 bail conditions on Aryan Khan, Arbaaz Merchant and Munmun Dhamecha, who were also granted bail. The court had stipulated their release on a personal bond of Rs 1 lakh each with one or two sureties of the same amount.
In the five-page order, signed by Justice NW Sambre, the high court had said the trio will have to surrender their passports before the NDPS court and shall not leave India without taking permission from the special court.
NCB's clean chit to Aryan Khan
In it's statement on Friday, the NCB said. "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 complaint against rest six persons is not being filed due to lack of sufficient evidence.
Meanwhile, the NCB submitted a chargesheet in the case on Friday 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.
NCB chief SN Pradhan said, "The principle of preponderance and probability is not applicable to NDPS Act. There should be beyond reasonable doubt and we did not find such evidence."
There should be physical corroboration of WhatsApp chat. Courts have clarified that WhatsApp chat, in itself, holds no value. You can talk about anything on WhatsApp but if not corroborated with physical evidence, it's not complete evidence: NCB head, on Mumbai drugs on cruise pic.twitter.com/5HSxCEZzHG
— ANI (@ANI) May 27, 2022
"There should be physical corroboration of WhatsApp chat. Courts have clarified that WhatsApp chat, in itself, holds no value. You can talk about anything on WhatsApp but if not corroborated with physical evidence, it's not complete evidence," Pradhan was quoted by ANI as saying.
(With inputs from PTI)
(Edited by : Akriti Anand)
First Published: May 27, 2022 2:03 PM IST
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