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Aryan Khan gets clean chit from NCB. Does NCB owe an apology to Aryan Khan? Was Aryan Khan targeted for being Shahrukh Khan’s son?

Aryan Khan gets clean chit from NCB. Does NCB owe an apology to Aryan Khan? Was Aryan Khan targeted for being Shahrukh Khan’s son?

In a dramatic turn of events, the NCB has announced officially that Aryan Khan, Bollywood superstar Shahrukh Khan’s eldest son, has been given a clean chit in the Cordelia cruise ship drug-bust case.

Aryan was in jail for over 26 days following his capture from the ship. For SRK, Aryan’s clean chit came on a special day as it was SRK’s youngest son AbRam’s birthday. Aryan was arrested on October 2, 2021.

After several court hearings and court room drama, the Bombay High Court granted him bail on October 28, 2021. Aryan walked out of jail on October 30, 2021.

Aryan Khan

NCB has realized after a thorough investigation that there was no material to charge this young man, and there was no material to arrest him.

He never had any drugs with him, and there was no evidence that he consumed any. In fact, Aryan dissuaded others from taking drugs. Aryan’s WhatsApp chats were not related to the case and could not corroborate any subsequent seizure or recovery of drugs.

Thus, the chats could not be used as evidence against him.  The NCB did not find any evidence that could link Aryan to international drug trafficking networks.

After all these findings by the SIT constituted for this case, the NCB has filed a chargesheet in which Aryan Khan is not named as an accused.

The NCB in its press release has said that this was a fair investigation and no drug was found in the possession of Aryan and Mohak. The NCB is going to investigate Sameer Wankhede’s role in the entire episode.

Aryan Khan had no drugs that were found on him is the precise argument his lawyer, Mukul Rohatgi, made in the court demanding bail for his client. The NCB argued differently when the case was being investigated by Sameer Wankhede.

The NCB’s legal response seems to have completely changed with the change of the investigating officer.

When Sameer Wankhede was investigating the NCB’s response to Aryan’s petition for bail was very different from now when the case is being overseen by another officer after Sameer was removed from this case and transferred to Delhi. This gives the impression that justice in the country is very individual.

It is very clear now that there was no investigation at the time of arrest. The arrest was done completely on the basis of assumption that since Aryan was in cruise ship, he might be in possession of drugs.

Aryan had to spend 26 harrowing days in jail under public gaze and media scrutiny for no fault of his. Many feel that the NCB owes an apology to the 23-year-young Aryan for all the unnecessary harassments and mental trauma that he had to undergo for the inefficiency of the bureau. He had to face relentless media and political scrutiny because of his arrest.

There are thousands of cases in Indian courts where people are arrested and chargesheet is not filed and people end up languishing months and years in jail without a trial. Keeping in view the present case, this should be a wake-up call for all investigating and prosecuting agencies to pull up their socks and ensure that such a thing does no recur in the future, especially for the NCB.

Every prosecuting agencies need to adhere to the golden principle of arrest which is, “the power of arrest does not mean you should arrest.” It applies to every prosecution agencies like CBI, ED, IT, customs, etc.

Arrest should be the measure of last resort. A person should be arrested only if there is a possibility that the person may flee from justice or if the person can tamper with evidence or if the person can influence witnesses or if the person is capable of destroying evidence.

None of these criteria are applicable in the case of Aryan Khan, and hence, there was no need to arrest him. The NCB could have taken a bond from him. The NCB obviously overstepped in this case and was too hasty on its part to arrest Aryan Khan. Many see it as a case of political vendetta.

There are some loose ends in the investigation also with the appearance of private detective K P Gosavi who later took selfies with Aryan Khan and leaked the selfie in social media.

There is no doubt that imprisonment especially for an undertrial has a very harrowing effect on any human being, more so on a young person. It does have a psychological effect on the detainee as he is forced to be in constant contact with other criminals in jail, who may be hardened criminals and might have spent several years for committing heinous crimes. All this definitely makes an impact on the mind. There is anxiety about when one will be released. All these might lead to a psychological breakdown.

Several questions have cropped up after NCB’s U-turn on this case. First of all, what proof did the narcotics bureau claimed to have that they do not have now? Second, can action be taken against the investigating officers for leaking Aryan’s personal chat in the social media when it could not be established that they had any links with the drug case? Will Shah Rukh’s family demand action against the NCB?

All said and done, the ordeal for the Khan-dan is over, and Aryan will be able to get back to the same normal life that he led before his arrest. That horror chapter is now over. Time is the greatest healer. The young man has a great future. He has a long and a promising life as an actor ahead of him. Our good wishes for his success in life and whatever he does. As they say, all is well that ends well.

. As they say, all is well that ends well.

edited and proofread by nikita sharma

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