The NCB (Narcotics Control Bureau), Mumbai, led by Sameer Wankhede, arrested actor Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan last year in October based on a statement by his friend, Arbaaz Merchant. After an eight-month-long investigation, the SIT headed by IPS officer Sanjay Kumar Singh gave a clean chit to Aryan, again based on the statement of Merchant, on Friday. According to sources, Merchant told the SIT that he did not make any statement before the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), Mumbai. 

He also claimed his signatures were taken on a blank paper by NCB, Mumbai officers. In October, Mumbai, NCB arrested Khan after Merchant, in his voluntary statement, said that the 6 gram charas procured from him in a raid on a cruise ship, was for his own consumption and that of Aryan Khan. Later, NCB, Mumbai recorded a statement from Khan where he too confessed to consumption of the drugs. Apart from Khan, the agency has also given a clean chit to 5 more accused including four organisers. The charge sheet filed before the special NDPS court was against 14 people and six were given a clean chit due to lack of evidence. The 6,000-pages charge sheet was submitted before a special NDPS court on Friday, the court is yet to take cognisance of it. 

In a statement issued by the SIT, its chief Sanjay Kumar Singh said, “The SIT carried out its investigation in an objective manner. The touchstone of the principle of proof beyond reasonable doubt has been applied. Based on the investigation carried out by the SIT, a complaint against 14 persons under various sections of the NDPS Act is being filed. Complaints against the remaining six persons are not being filed due to lack of sufficient evidence.” 

Speaking to mid-day he said, “Our job was to conduct an impartial investigation to reinstate the faith of people in the NCB. During the course of investigation we didn’t find any evidence against the six accused including Aryan Khan.”

“The arrest and detention of Aryan Khan for 26 days was unjustified, more particularly when he was not found in possession of any drugs, there was no evidence of any kind, there was no material of any nature of violation of any law, much less the NDPS Act. We are happy that the Special Investigation Team under Sanjay Kumar Singh investigated the case in an objective manner and decided not to file a complaint against Aryan Khan for lack of sufficient evidence. Satya Meva Jayate,” said Khan’s lawyer, Satish Maneshinde.

Sources in the agency have confirmed that Khan has also said in his statement that he never confessed about consumption, and never said that the drug found in his friend’s possession was for his consumption. The first investigating officer, Ashish Ranjan, who has been suspended by the NCB DG, had recorded the initial statements of Merchant and Khan.

According to their first voluntary statement given to NCB Superintendent V V Singh, Merchant said that the drug was for consumption by him and his friend Aryan Khan, and based on his statement, the agency secured the two friends custody from Killa court in October last year.

While recording his statement before the SIT, Merchant retracted his statement, and said that he was forced to sign on a blank paper and he never made such a statement. “The entire case was based on his statement. He now claims that he was forced to sign on a blank paper and now he has retracted the statement which was the only evidence against Khan. As there is some truth in his statement given before SIT, Khan’s name has been dropped from the charge sheet as there was not sufficient evidence.” a senior officer of NCB told mid-day. 

According to Merchant's statement to NCB, he was travelling with Khan to the cruise party. In front of Investigating Officer Aashish Ranjan Prasad, Merchant accepted that he had kept charas inside his shoes. He did not say that the drug that was recovered from him was meant for any other person including Khan.

In the second voluntary statement of Merchant given before Ranjan Prasad, he said that Khan was aware that he (Arbaaz) was an occasional consumer, and that is why he told him (Merchant) not to carry any hash to the cruise, as NCB was very active these days and they (Merchant and Khan) will be in trouble.

In the initial voluntary statement given to the first IO of the case, Khan had confessed to consumption and said that the charas found from Merchant was for their consumption. While recording the statement before SIT, Khan also retracted this statement and said that he never made such a statement before anyone. As per the internal note of SIT, Khan in his initial statement, had said that the drug found on Merchant was for consumption, not specifically saying whose.

The NCB has also cited a statement of crucial witness, Prabhakar Sail who died recently, saying that he was asked to sign on a blank paper by another panch witness, K P Gosavi, who was present at the time of searches and he (Sail) did not witness any drug recovery. 

The second aspect on which the NCB led by Wankhede had relied on, was WhatsApp chat and through Additional Solicitor General Anil Singh, the agency claimed before the sessions and Bombay High Court, that Khan was part of an international drug cartel. However, the SIT has said those chats were not related to this case and hence there was no relevance. 

The SIT in its internal note has also said, “It is strange to note that in spite clear denial by Arbaaz regarding the involvement of Aryan in the procurement and possession of drugs from him, the investigating officer started looking at WhatsApp chats of Aryan Khan, even formally seizing his mobile phone. It appears that the IO was motivated to somehow implicate Aryan Khan in the drug case. Khan, while arguing for his bail before the Bombay High Court, argued on the seizure of the mobile phone, saying it was not formally seized by the agency.”

In the internal note submitted to the DG NCB, the agency has also claimed, “In the Punchnama that was drawn after the search and seizure at the Cruise Terminal, it has been mentioned that the mobile phone of Aryan Khan was voluntarily handed over by him to the Investigating Officer. It is to be noted that this was not followed by formal seizure procedure as laid down in the law.” 

“Investigation has further disclosed that data extraction of Aryan’s mobile was done and it contained various WhatsApp chats with different people alluding to consumption of weed, hashish, etc. Witnesses and accused were asked to join the investigation based on the contents of the WhatsApp chat treating them as if contents of WhatsApp chats are the primary source of evidence,” the NCB’s internal note reads further. 

According to the NCB, the Supreme Court has time and again questioned the evidentiary value of WhatsApp chats. Therefore, “our excessive reliance on WhatsApp messages will be severely counterproductive during the trial of the case, considering the fact that integrity of data extracted from Aryan’s phone is questionable as there is no seizure memo for Aryan’s phone to show how and when his phone was seized.” the internal note reads further.

After Khan and the others were arrested and after allegations by NCP Minister Nawab Malik, the NCB formed a SIT headed by Singh to probe the matter further. After the clean chit from NCB, the family of Malik, from his Twitter handle said, “Now that Aryan Khan and 5 others get a clean chit will NCB take action against Sameer Wankhede his team and the private army or will it shield the culprits?” 

According to sources, based on the findings, the SIT has submitted a detailed note to NCB DG SN Pradhan to take action against the investigating officer and Wankhede. Pradhan has also initiated departmental enquiry against them. Wankhede is already facing a vigilance probe and two officers, VV Singh and Ashish Ranjan, have been suspended. Wankhede was not available for comment, but sources close to him said that the decision to arrest Khan and others was collective and everyone was informed with the evidence. Apart from Khan, the four organisers of the cruise, Gopal ji Anand, Samir Sehgal, Bhaskar Arora, Manav Singhal and another accused, Avin Sahu, have not been charge sheeted due to lack of evidence.

New Delhi : Setting aside the findings of an investigation carried out by its own officers, the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) has given a clean chit to actor Shah Rukh Khan’s son, Aryan Khan, who was arrested following the seizure of drugs from some co-passengers on a cruise liner last year. Khan (24) had spent 27 days behind bars. Along with Khan, five others have been exonerated after a review of the case by a Special Investigation Team (SIT).

The NCB on Friday filed a chargesheet against 14 suspects in the case in the court of special judge for NDPS cases, Greater Mumbai, as its 60-day extension to file the report was to end in two days.

Absolving Khan of involvement doesn’t seem to stem from just lack of evidence; the SIT’s probe raises serious questions on his arrest per se. Its findings, which sources confirmed were part of the chargesheet, suggest that Khan may have been falsely implicated.

NCB chief S N Pradhan said there were irregularities in the investigation conducted by then zonal director Sameer Wankhede and his team. “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,” he said.

Mumbai: The Narcotics Control Bureau’s Special Investigation Team, headed by IPS officer Sanjay Kumar Singh, summoned actor Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan Khan and other accused in the cruise drugs bust case on Sunday. While Aryan failed to appear before the investigators citing “slight fever”, his friend Arbaaz Merchant and co-accused Achit Kumar arrived at the NCB office and were quizzed for several hours. Sources said Aryan is expected to appear before the SIT in a day or two.

“We are issuing summons to all the accused and people concerned in the six drug cases that are now being probed by the SIT,” said an NCB officer. The SIT was formed on Friday and arrived in Mumbai the next day.

Merchant came in the morning to give his statement, while Kumar arrived in the afternoon.

ANI reported that Prabhakar Sail, a witness who claimed that a deal of Rs 18 crore was made for Aryan’s release, has been summoned by the NCB’s vigilance team on Monday. Earlier, he had failed to appear before the team on October 30, an official said.

The cruise liner drug case, actor Armaan Kohli’s case, the case involving minister Nawab Malik’s son-in-law Sameer Khan, and three charas and mephedrone cases, which were being supervised by Mumbai NCB zonal director Sameer Wankhede, were transferred to the Singh-led SIT.

Meanwhile, Sunil Patil, whom former Mumbai BJP youth wing chief Mohit Bharatiya has accused of being the mastermind of the cruise drugs episode, appeared before the Mumbai Police's SIT on Sunday to record his statement, an official said. Patil reached Azad Maidan police station in a private cab and the SIT office in south Mumbai around 6.15 pm, he said.

ACP Milind Khetle, who heads the police’s SIT set up to probe allegations of extortion against NCB officials in connection with the cruise drug bust, will record Patil’s statement. It has already recorded the statement of NCB’s independent witness Prabhakar Sail, the official said.