Actor Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan Khan has been give a ‘clean chit’ in the high-profile Mumbai cruise drugs case, seven months after he was released from jail on bail.
He was granted bail on October 28 and released from Mumbai’s Arthur Road Jail two days later. Aryan Khan, along with his friends Arbaaz Merchant and Munmun Dhamecha, was arrested by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) on October 3.
His bail came after his earlier petitions seeking bail were rejected, first by sessions court and then by the special NDPS court. The Bollywood superstar, Shah Rukh Khan, roped in a battery of lawyers, including former Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi, to get Aryan Khan out of jail and was finally released from jail days before his father’s birthday.
The NCB arrested these three – along with 20 others (who were arrested on different dates) – on October 3 after a raid conducted by the agency on a cruise ship off the coast of Mumbai.
– On October 7, a Mumbai court sent Aryan and seven other accused to 14-day judicial custody. The next day, October 8, the court rejected the bail pleas of Aryan, Merchant and Dhamecha.
– On October 20, Aryan, lodged at the Arthur Road Jail, moved the Bombay HC.
– On October 21, NCB summoned Bollywood actress Ananya Panday for questioning. She was asked about her WhatsApp chats with Aryan, and the actress claimed she never used any narcotics. She was also asked if Aryan Khan was ordering drugs, whether he was ordering drugs for himself and his friends; and who provided the drugs to her. The same day the NCB visited her Mumbai residence to collect a few documents.
– On October 21, an NCB team went to Shah Rukh Khan’s residence too to collect some documents regarding his son Aryan Khan, but no raids were conducted during the visit. “NCB team visited Shah Rukh Khan’s residence to collect some documents related to Aryan Khan. No raids were conducted at ‘Mannat’,” Wankhede had said at the time.
-A special court in Mumbai on October 21 had extended the judicial custody of Aryan and seven other accused in the case till October 30.
– On October 24, an allegation of Rs 25 crore bribe added a new twist to the case. Witness Prabhakar Sail (40), a driver of absconding alleged private investigator KP Gosavi, whose selfie with Aryan Khan went viral, claimed that there was a demand of Rs 25 crore bribe to let off Aryan. Prabhakar told media persons that he had overheard Gosavi telling one Sam D’Souza over the phone after Aryan Khan was brought to the NCB office following the October 3 raid on the Goa-bound ship about a demand of Rs 25 crore and to settle at Rs 18 crore as they “have to give Rs eight crore to Sameer Wankhede.”
– The NCB responded to the extortion claims, saying as Prabhakar was a witness in the case, which is before the court and sub-judice, he needed to “submit his prayer to the Honorable court rather than through social media if he has anything to say”. The statement, signed by NCB DDG Mutha Ashok, also added that Wankhede has categorically denied the allegations.
– Following this, Wankhede requested Mumbai police commissioner to ensure no legal action is falsely carried out against him based on “ulterior motives”. Wankhede, in a letter to the commissioner, said that some “unknown persons” are involved in initiating legal action against him in relation to the drug bust case.
– A vigilance inquiry was then ordered against Wankhede to probe into the extortion claims.
– On October 27, for more than four hours, Wankhede answered a barrage of questions posed by a vigilance team headed by Deputy Director General (northern region) Gyaneshwar Singh in connection with the allegations of extortion.
