Aryan Khan drugs case: NCB 'needle of suspicion' on some officers over lapses in probe

Mumbai, Oct 18 (IANS) A Special Investigation Team of the Narcotics Control Bureau has detected lapses into the probe against Aryan Khan - the son of megastar Shah Rukh Khan -in the cruiser drugs case and has pointed the "needle of suspicion" on at least 7-8 officers.

Sources said that the SIT findings have been submitted to the NCB headquarters in New Delhi - nearly six months after Aryan Khan and others got a 'clean chit' in the case in May.

The report is understood to have detailed how Aryan Khan was deliberately targeted in the entire affair, the shoddy manner in which the entire probe into the cruiser drugs case was done, with many shortcomings in the investigation perpetrated by the NCB officers assigned to the sensitive case - which grabbed global headlines in October 2021.

Apparently, the probe was pushed ahead even though there was not sufficient evidence, and statements of some five dozen persons were recorded multiple times as they kept changing their versions.

The NCB sources said the conduct of around 7-8 officers was found to be suspicious in this case and some other drugs bust cases, for which a departmental probe has been recommended.

The NCB, led by its then Mumbai head Sameer Wankhede had carried out a high-profile raid on the cruise ship off Mumbai harbour last October and arrested 20 persons including Aryan Khan.

After a huge controversy, the probe was taken over by a NCB team from Delhi and Wankhede was transferred.