A Special Investigation Team constituted by the Narcotics Control Board has found:
- No evidence that Aaryan Khan was part of an international drug conspiracy
- That he was never in possession of drugs (and hence there was no evidentary need to seize his phone and trawl through his chats and messages)
- That in any case the chats do not show any indication of Khan’s involvement in any international drug syndicate
- That the raid was not video-taped as per the requirement of the NCB’s own manual of operations
- That Khan never asked his friend to bring drugs to the cruise liner
…and much else besides, all pointing to the fact that the son of Shah Rukh Khan was set up by the NCB team headed by Sameer Wankhede (who, by the way, has not been punished, merely “repatriated to the parent cadre). The story makes for interesting reading, if only because it shows how the government has been using its investigative agencies to gaslight people it wants to target.
It’s worth pointing out that the Bombay High Court, as far back as November 2021, said exactly the same thing while granting bail to Aaryan Khan.
Since it is now clear that the drug bust was fabricated, it begs the question: Who pays?
Who pays for the trauma inflicted on a young citizen? Who in the media pays for the breathless allegations that were aired for weeks, accusing this kid of all sorts of heinous crimes?
(Lead image courtesy The Indian Express)
