Drawing parallels with Aryan Khan, Kshitij Prasad, who works in Bollywood and is being probed in the Rajput drug case, has sought discharge, calling allegations against him baseless. He said the NCB probe was carried out by an “over-ambitious officer”.

Drawing parallels with Aryan Khan who was dropped as an accused in the cruise drugs bust case, Kshitij Prasad, who works in moviemaking and is being probed by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) in the Sushant Singh Rajput case, has sought discharge. Calling the allegations against him baseless, he said it is important to note that the investigation in both cases — his as well as actor Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan’s case — was carried out by an “overzealous and over-ambitious officer”.

The plea did not name any officer. “The officer had an intention to gain media attention by destabilising and invoking fear in the Bollywood industry. The officer wanted the present applicant (Prasad) to falsely name certain film directors, producers, actors and actresses as consumers or suppliers of drugs,” said discharge plea, filed through advocate Nikhil Maneshinde.

Prasad, 30, the son of a retired army colonel, said when he refused the officer’s request, the case was filed against him. He is now out on bail. “The officer is being investigated for shoddy investigation in the case involving Aryan Khan. It is the prayer of the applicant, that in the present case as well, a special investigation team be formed, and the whole case be re-investigated,” the discharge plea said. 

Draft charges were recently submitted against Prasad and 34 others. The case will come up for hearing on July 27. The discharge plea added that from the chargesheet, it was clear the prosecution’s case rests on the “so-called” voluntary statements of the co-accused and witnesses recorded under Section 67 of the NDPS Act. It said it was inadmissible as evidence.

Referring to Aryan Khan again, the discharge plea said he was omitted as an accused as no recovery was made from him. “Similarly, in the case of the present applicant, only a rolled joint believed to be smoked ganja was found lying in a flower pot. . . of the residence. . . There is no material produced to link the alleged recovery with him,” it added. “No drugs were ever recovered from his person.”

Prasad worked as an executive producer in Dharma Productions’ sister company, ‘Dharmatic’ Entertainment.