Special report reveals ‘suspicious behaviour’ of NCB officials in Aryan Khan drugs case – Times of India

The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) has more reason to be worried in the Cordelia Cruise drugs case, where Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan Khan was taken into custody last year along with his best friend Arbaaz Merchant. The special internal report by NCB revealed there were many irregularities in the probe conducted by the NCB. The report also accused that 7 to 8 NCB officers exhibited “suspicious behaviour” during the investigation involving all accused in the case.

These findings in the report cast a major cloud over the NCB and its officers that were involved in the Aryan Khan case. Though SRK’s son was given a clean chit in the case, both political individuals and names from the film industry had alleged that the NCB’s investigation of the drugs case was far from ideal.

During the special investigation, statements by 65 witnesses were recorded while bank details and other financial details of the family members of the officers under the scanner were also scrutinised. From these, a few officers and individuals changed their statements 3 to 4 times. Reportedly, most of the officers are from the department, however, a report will be submitted to the authority to take action against the ones who are not serving the department currently.

NCB officials revealed that the special investigation team (SIT) set up by the NCB top brass submitted its vigilance report to the NCB headquarters in Delhi, today. This SIT was formed to probe allegations of impropriety by investigating officers in the Aryan Khan case. The SIT also found lapses in the investigation of other related and unrelated cases as well.

“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.

Experts are saying these new revelations in the special report are a second setback for the NCB in the Cordelia Drugs case. The first one was when Aryan Khan was given the clean chit by the Court in May this year, eight months after his arrest in the cruise drugs bust. After Aryan’s acquittal, the NCB had to admit that they had not found “sufficient evidence” against Aryan and five other co-accused persons.

Aryan Khan and 20 others were arrested in October 2021 from a cruise ship off the terminal in Mumbai, and NCB officials had claimed that drugs had been found on some of those apprehended individuals. Following this, Aryan had to spend almost a month in NCB custody in Arthur Road jail in Mumbai.

Some of the major allegations made by NCB officials against Aryan included – “a regular user of drugs”, he was involved in “illicit drug trafficking”, and he was a participant in “procuring and distribution of drugs”. But after the Court proceedings and judgment, the NCB had to backtrack its allegations. With these new revelations coming to light, the NCB’s involvement in the high-profile case seems to have taken another serious hit.