Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Oct 18: In an embarrassment to the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) an internal report by its own officers have pointed out several “irregularities” in the investigation into the narcotics involving Aryan Khan as if they were “motivated to somehow implicate” Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan’s son.
Shah Rukh’s son Aryan Khan along with 14 others were held last year for allegedly possessing some drugs while boarding a ship on a cruise from Mumbai to Goa. The incident infamous as “drugs-on-cruise” had generated considerable heat in the country in view of the involvement of big names in the crime.
But an internal report has found there were several “irregularities” in the investigation of the drugs-on-cruise case involving Aryan Khan flagging “suspicious behaviour” on the part of seven to eight officers of the agency. “It appeared that the investigating officer was motivated to somehow implicate actor Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan in the drugs case,” the report reportedly said.
“It is strange to note that in spite of clear cut denial by Arbaaz (Merchant) regarding involvement of Aryan in the procurement and possession of drugs from him, the investigating officer started looking at WhatsApp chats of Aryan without even formally seizing his mobile phone,” the report said. Merchant is Aryan’s friend from whom six grams of charas was allegedly recovered by NCB.
While the SIT’s charge sheet submitted on Friday dropped Aryan as an accused, Merchant is among the 14 charge sheeted. “Courts in general are very lenient with persons from whom drugs are not recovered and against whom there is no cogent evidence. It may be relevant to mention here that courts sometimes cast aspersions on the motives of investigating officers if courts believe that the investigating was motivated,” the report said.
The report also noted that Merchant told the investigating officer that Aryan was aware that he (Merchant) was an occasional consumer. Merchant was also quoted as saying that Aryan told him not to carry any hash to the cruise as NCB was very active and that they would be in trouble. “In none of his statements Arbaaz Merchant has stated that drugs recovered was meant for Aryan, or Aryan was involved in any way in procuring the recovered drugs,” the report said. Referring to the panchanama drawn after the search and seizure at the cruise terminal, the report said that it mentioned that Aryan’s mobile phone was “voluntarily handed over by him to the investigating officer.”
The revelations are the second major embarrassment for the agency following one in May this year, when, eight months after his sensational arrest and spending over three weeks in jail, Aryan Khan was cleared of all charges and the NCB admitting they had not been able to find “sufficient evidence” against him and five others.
A Special Investigation Team (SIT) was set up by the NCB to probe allegations of impropriety by its officers in their handling of the Aryan Khan case. The SIT sent its vigilance report to its headquarters in Delhi, officials said on Tuesday.
“The investigation found that there were many irregularities in the case. Questions have also been raised about the intention of the officers involved in the investigation,” a source said. Statements of 65 people were recorded as part of the investigations. Some people changed their statements three to four times. The inquiry also uncovered lapses in the investigation of some other cases, the source said, adding that reports have been sent about all these cases.
It was then alleged that large amount of largesse had changed hands to ensure that Aryan and some others were spared of drug charges. However, the report said the accusation of the probe being an extortion bid and that there had been demands of kickbacks to stymie the case against Aryan Khan and other influential targets have not been substantiated. But it was found that there had been selective targeting of some people, sources said.
“The role of 7 to 8 NCB officers has been found to be suspicious in this case, for which departmental inquiry has been initiated. Permission has been sought from senior officers to take action against those who are outside NCB,” an official said. Aryan Khan was among 20 people arrested last October from a cruise ship off Mumbai, and drugs had been found on some of those arrested.
In November, the NCB headquarters removed Sameer Wankhede, who was the chief investigating officer in the case, from the probe and transferred the case and five more from Mumbai to a Delhi-based SIT formed under its Deputy Director General Sanjay Kumar Singh after Mr Wankhede and his unit was accused of glaring lapses.