BREAKING| NCB Gives Clean Chit To Aryan Khan In Drugs Case; Says No Narcotics Found In His Possession

"SIT carried out its investigation in objective manner. The touchstone of the principle of proof beyond reasonable doubt has been applied. Based on the investigation carried out by SIT, a complaint against 14 persons under various sections of NDPS Act is being filed. Complaint against rest 6 persons is not being filed due to lack of sufficient evidence," the NCB said in its press note.

"All the accused persons were found in possession of Narcotics except Aryan and Mohak", the press statement said.

Apart from Aryan Khan, NCB has given clean chit to Avin Sahu, Gopal Anand, Samir Sehgal, Bhaskar Arora and Manav Singhal. Avin Sahu was a guest of the cruise ship and the other 4 persons were the organizers of the party.

The 14 accused chargesheeted include Khan's friend Arbaaz Merchant (26), one Munmun Dhamecha (28), guests Vikrant Chhokar (33), Mohak Jaiswal (28), Ishmeet Singh Chadha (33), Gomit Chopra (28), Nupur Satija (29), alleged supplier Abdul Kadar Shaikh (30), one Shreyas Nair (23), guest Manish Rajgariya (30), alleged consumer connected with Khan- Aachit Kumar (22), suppliers Chinedu Igwe (27), Shivraj Harijan (33) and Okoro Uzeoma (40).

On October 3, 2021, the NCB arrested Aryan Khan along with several others following an alleged drug bust where the Cordelia Cruise Ship was docked. While nothing was recovered from Khan, his friend Arbaaz Merchant was allegedly found in possession of 6 gms of charas. Another 5gms of hashish was reportedly retrieved from one Munmun Dhamecha.

They were booked under Sections 8(c), 20(b), 27, 28, 29 and 35 under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act.

Subsequently, other guests on the ship as well as alleged drug peddlers were arrested in the case.

The Bombay High Court said in its order granting bail to Khan and the other two on October 28, 2021, that prima facie there was no evidence on record to infer that Aryan Khan and his friend Arbaaz Merchant conspired to commit offences under the NDPS Act.

It may be noted that earlier, Prabhakar Sail, a panch witness in the case, had made startling allegations about extortion and pay-offs involving KP Gosavi (a private person at the NCB raid whose picture with Aryan Khan went viral even before he was formally arrested), the investigating officer and then NCB Mumbai Zonal Director Sameer Wankhede and others, in a notarized affidavit.

As a result of these allegations the case was transferred to a Special Investigation Team of the NCB in Delhi.

Prabhakar Sail died last month and the NCB was also granted an additional 60 days to investigate the case. The 60 day period would end on May 30.