Aryan Khan case: SIT finds ‘irregularity in investigation’, submits vigilance report to NCB office

New Delhi: The high-profile case involving the drugs scandal on a cruise ship, in which Shah Rukh Khan's son Aryan Khan and his close friend Arbaaz Merchant were detained last year, has just become a bit more complicated.

The National Crime Bureau's special investigation team in its vigilance report has stated that there were numerous irregularities in the manner in which the inquiry was conducted. The report has further raised questions about the intentions of the officers involved in the case. During the special investigation, statements by 65 witnesses were recorded, but of these, a few officers and individuals later changed their statements 3 to 4 times.

The report further notes that the oversights were discovered during the examination of a few more cases. It has been learnt from sources that reports on all such cases have been submitted. The issue of discriminating against particular people has also been brought up by the report. The report is understood to have detailed the involvement of 7–8 NCB personnel in this instance, which was found questionable and for which a departmental investigation has also been started.

The Special Investigation team set up by the Narcotics Control Bureau was submitted in Delhi on Tuesday.

When Aryan Khan and 20 other people were detained in October 2021 from a cruise ship docked in Mumbai, NCB officers asserted that some of the detained people had drugs on them. Aryan, who is the son of Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan, had to spend close to a month in jail, after which he was released as NCB was not able to provide sufficient evidence against the star's son.