On 2 October, the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) announced that it had raided a cruise ship in Mumbai and recovered party drugs from several people, including Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan Khan. Since then, Aryan has been in constant limelight, with the NCB releasing details of his alleged history of drug abuse and his “connections” with international drug traffickers.
The jury on Aryan, one of the eight people initially arrested in the high-profile case, may still be out, but several legal experts are Outlook Expressed doubts over the NCB’s ‘case’, in particular the ‘Panchnama’ – a record of observation by two independent persons, and hence an important legal document. The NCB has also cited alleged WhatsApp messages linking Aryan to the drugs cartel.
Many have drawn parallels with the Sushant Singh Rajput case of 2020, in which the NCB also arrested his ex-girlfriend Rhea Chakraborty, who spent more than two weeks in jail. Since then the matter has gone into cold storage. Even in that case, NCB had relied heavily on WhatsApp messages.
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Amid several loopholes in the Aryan case, experts said Panchnama is silent on whether the NCB team searched the youth or found any banned substance in his possession. In contrast, the same document details physical searches on others and banned substances found on them. Outlook Received a copy of the Panchnama which mentions Aryan’s discovery details along with four others…
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