'Lack of Evidence': Aryan Khan, 5 Others Get Clean Chit in Drugs Case

The clean chit by NCB comes seven months after he was granted bail in the case following his arrest on 8 October.

Aryan Khan near the NCB headquarters in Mumbai in October 2021.

(Photo Courtesy: Twitter)

Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan's son Aryan Khan got a clean chit in the drugs case, for which he was arrested from a cruise in Mumbai, seven months after he was granted bail.

"All the accused persons were found in possession of narcotics except Aryan and Mohak," the statement by Sanjay Kumar Singh Deputy Director General (Operations), Narcotics Control Bureau said.

Meanwhile, the government has ordered appropriate action against ex-NCB official Sameer Wankhede for a "shoddy" probe into the case, ANI quoted sources as saying.

Singh headed the Special Investigation Team (SIT) constituted to probe the case.

"SIT carried out its investigation in objective manner. The touchstone of the principle of proof beyond reasonable doubt has been applied. Based on the investigation carried out by SIT, a complaint against 14 persons under various sections of NDPS Act is being filed. Complaint against rest 6 persons is not being filed due to lack of sufficient evidence," the statement read.

Speaking to news agency ANI, NCB chief SN Pradhan asserted that matters discussed on WhatsApp chats should be corroborated with physical evidence.

"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," Pradhan said.

He added, "The principle of preponderance and probability is not applicable to NDPS Act. There should be beyond reasonable doubt, we did not find such evidence."

Aryan Khan, along with several others, was arrested by the NCB from Mumbai's Cordelia cruise on 8 October.

He was granted bail on 28 October following a series of hearings.

'Formed an SIT Due to Loopholes in Initial Investigation': NCB Chief

NCB chief Pradhan also said that the SIT was formed to investigate the case because the initial investigation had several "loopholes."

"The Special Investigation Team was formed because there were irregularities in the investigation at the local level. There were some loopholes and the SIT was formed to fix them. We also took action against some officials," he said while speaking to the press.

Shah Rukh, Aryan Are Relieved: Lawyer Mukul Rohatgi

In a conversation with NDTV, senior lawyer Mukul Rohatgi, who represented Aryan Khan in court, said that Aryan and Shah Rukh Khan are "relieved" after the development.

"Ultimately, truth has prevailed," he told NDTV.

"There was no material to charge this young man or arrest him. No drugs were found on him. I am happy that the NCB acted professionally in admitting their mistake," Rohatgi further said.

Lawyer Satish Shinde, meanwhile, asserted that 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."

He expressed relief that the SIT constituted to probe the case carried it out in an 'objective manner'.

What SIT Found Earlier

The SIT team in March had found that there is no evidence that Aryan was part of a drugs conspiracy or an international drugs trafficking syndicate, and that his chats did not indicate to any such possibility either.

The SIT had also found that Aryan was not in possession of drugs, so there was no need to take his phone and check the chats.

The report also said that there were several irregularities in the raid on the cruise, during which Aryan was arrested, and that the raid wasn't video-recorded as mandated by the NCB norms.