Who pays?

The cover image for this post is taken from an India Today article. The headline:

Aryan Khan was consuming drugs for four years, cried during questioning: NCB sources

Here’s another — this time, from the Economic Times:

Aaryan Khan taken to JJ Hospital in Mumbai for medical check-up in drugs case

The catch? ET sources the story from sister publication Times of India — which in turn cites anonymous “sources”.

Now read the Bombay High Court’s bail order which, among other things, says no test was conducted on Khan. Or, if you are not into pages of legalese — this order runs into 14 pages — then read LiveLaw’s summary.

In sum, the Narcotics Control Board cooked up a false case. The main “investigator” is now under investigator for corruption. The main “witness” is an absconding felon who was wanted in cases of extortion and blackmail.

And despite all this, the government of India’s own attorneys strenuously opposed bail; talked of international conspiracies; and put on record facts that were just not true.

The media did its bit, splashing unfounded leaks as banner headlines to help the NCB and the government spin a story of druggie Bollywood kids, international conspiracies, and much else — exactly as they had done with Rhea Chakraborthy earlier.

Now ask yourselves a few questions:

Since this was clearly a distraction, what was the government trying to distract us from?

Since the entire case was based on lies, what action will be — needs to be — taken against the NCB officials who carried out the “raid”, the lawyers who presented it in court, and the professional “witnesses” whose testimony was presented before the Bombay High Court?

Since the charges of being a chronic, long-time drug user, of being a link in an international conspiracy etc are clearly shown to be fictitious, who will take action against the media houses who ran with fake news on print and on prime time television? And what — if any — action will they take?

“On this day, I call upon my friends from media to make all efforts to curb the menace of fake news and fake narratives. The Government on its part has taken measures like establishment of fact check unit at Press Information Bureau which has gained popularity.”

Anurag Thakur, minister for Information and Broadcasting, said that just four days ago while “celebrating” National Press Day.

So what action will the I&B minister take against those media houses that spun a tissue of lies — over the course of weeks of wall to wall coverage — around the “drug bust”?

You’ve read of the drug haul in Mundra port, involving 2880 kg of heroin with a street value of Rs 21,000 crore (estimated). But do you remember what the outcome was? Do you recall any prime time debates on arguably one of the biggest drug hauls in recent memory?

Did you read of the drug smuggler who escaped from a Ludhiana court on November 20? Or the drug bust in Dwaraka, Gujarat, November 20? Had you read, or heard, of this seizure on November 18? Or this story, also from November 18, of the find of a drug-making unit at a Mumbai lawyer’s farmhouse? The drug bust in Nanded November 16? The one in Ahmedabad November 17? How about this one from November 12?

These are all from the current month — I could go further back in time, but you get the point, right? The Aaryan Khan furore was never about drugs.

PS: From a quick Twitter thread, this, as PSA:

Update, November 21: Rahila Furniturewala gets bail in SSR drugs case

“Granting bail to Rahila Furniturewala over nine months after her arrest in the NCB drugs case connected to the death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput, a special NDPS court held there is no material at all disclosing her prima facie involvement in financing, illegal trafficking and harbouring of offenders.. The court also pointed out that no contraband was seized from her.”

And thus, yet another NCB “case”, prosecuted amid a glare of publicity and planted stories, crumbles in the face of judicial scrutiny.

Who pays? For the reputations ruined, for the lives destroyed by a corrupt government outfit creating distractions for its political masters? Remember, the BJP — which vociferously pushed the SSR “murder” angle in the run up to the Gujarat polls — has been totally silent about SSR after the elections.