Sources said Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan appeared on Friday evening before the Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the NCB, which is probing the drugs-on-cruise case, and his statement was recorded for hours, Sources said. Earlier in the day, Aryan visited the Narcotics Control Bureau’s office in South Mumbai at Ballard Estate, where he was recorded weekly as directed by the Bombay High Court while granting him bail last month.
Later, he appeared before the SIT in neighboring Navi Mumbai headed by NCB Deputy Director General Sanjay Kumar Singh, and was questioned from evening till midnight, sources said.
According to top sources, Aryan was questioned at the RAF office in Navi Mumbai. After leaving the zonal office for court-mandated attendance, Aryan left for Navi Mumbai. Sources said Aryan was questioned about the circumstances in which he boarded the cruise, his relationship with drug suppliers, and his peer group and habits and preferences related to his drugs.
NCB’s DDG Dnyaneshwar Singh said: “Our investigation is on and we are giving it top priority…we want to finish it as soon as possible. We are yet to get some key people involved in the investigation.”
Aryan is also said to have been questioned about the circumstances under which the previous investigation team led by the troubled zonal chief Sameer Wankhede Investigated how he was treated in custody to find out whether he or his family was forced to pay bribes. The SIT’s list of questions for Aryan included details of his plan and how he came to know about the cruise and its itinerary. Also, if he had planned to do drugs on the ship or if the drugs were provided on board. Sources said Aryan was also given an option to quash all drug-related charges, as had been done by his lawyers in the court while applying for bail. Records show that no banned substance was found from Aryan during the raid.
In question, was also his WhatsApp chat, which was quoted by Wankhede’s team while opposing his bail in the court. NCB had used the transcript of Aryan’s WA chat to allege that he was part of an international drug peddling ring and also had a ‘big conspiracy’.
Touching on the extortion angle, the team is said to have asked Aryan about the custodial treatment of him, as according to witnesses’ statements his parents had extorted crores in bribe money in exchange for his release. The demand was refused.
Sameer Wankhede, who himself is facing investigation on charges of extortion, was not part of the team that interrogated Aryan on Friday.
The SIT is probing at least six cases, including the drugs case on the cruise. The NCB had raided a cruise ship off the Mumbai coast on October 2 and claimed to have seized drugs. Aryan and many others were caught during the raid. The team reached Mumbai from Delhi last week and has recorded the statements of some important witnesses including Prabhakar Cell who had alleged an attempt to extort against the NCB officials.
(with PTI inputs)
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