Amid speculative reports that the NCB has found no evidence against Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan Khan, the Maha Vikas Aghadi of Maharashtra has slammed the BJP-led Centre for alleged misuse of central agencies.
According to MVA partners - Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress - there was no evidence against Aryan Khan and he was framed deliberately by IRS officer Sameer Wankhede, the then Mumbai Zonal Director of NCB, who has now been shunted to the DRI in Delhi.
According to media reports, the SIT of NCB has found no evidence that Aryan Khan was part of a larger drugs conspiracy or an international drugs trafficking syndicate and there were several irregularities vis-a-vis the raid.
After the October 2-3, 2021 raid on Cordelia cruise ship, a total of 20 accused were arrested in the case including Aryan Khan, his friend Arbaaz, a special media influencer and son of senior lawyer Aslam Merchant and designer-model Munmun Dhamecha. However, after their bail was rejected by the Magistrate’s Court and Special NDPS Court, they were granted bail by the Bombay High Court.
The NCB, in a brief statement, however, denied that a clean chit was given to Aryan Khan. “As far as media reports on non-availability of evidence against Aryan Khan are concerned, these are not true and are just speculations and nothing else. These statements were not cross-checked with NCB before being published. Investigation is not yet completed and it is premature to say anything at this stage,” he said.
Shiv Sena chief spokesperson and Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Raut said it was just another case of misuse of central agencies. “Those who misuse central agencies will all go to jail,” he said. “Now it's proven. The truth came out, didn't it? The SIT report has come, right? Aryan Khan was framed because he is Shah Rukh Khan's son,” he added.
It may be mentioned Maharashtra’s Minority Affairs Minister and NCP chief spokesperson Nawab Malik - who had exposed Wankhede -is now under the arrest of ED in a case involving property deals with people linked to Dawood Ibrahim.
NCP legislator Amol Mitkari said that there should be action against Wankhede.
Congress general secretary Sachin Sawant said: “The SIT has revealed that Aryan Khan didn't have drugs and exposed mistakes made by Wankhede and his team during the raid. It is clear that the allegations were true and an extortion racket was going on. Why no action was taken against NCB officials for visible violation of rules in NCB rulebook?”
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