Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan on Friday evening appeared before the Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the NCB which is probing the drugs-on-cruise case, and his statement was recorded for hours, sources said. Earlier in the day, Aryan visited the Narcotics Control Bureau’s south Mumbai office in Ballard Estate for marking his weekly attendance as instructed by the Bombay High Court while granting him bail last month.
Later, he appeared before the SIT headed by NCB Deputy Director General Sanjay Kumar Singh in neighbouring Navi Mumbai, and was quizzed from early evening till almost midnight, sources said.
According to top sources, Aryan was questioned at the RAF office in Navi Mumbai. After leaving the Zonal office for his court-mandated appearance, Aryan headed to Navi Mumbai. Sources said Aryan was questioned about the circumstances under which he boarded the cruise, his links to drug suppliers, and about his peer group and their drugs-related habits and preferences.
Gyaneshwar Singh, NCB DDG said: “Our investigation is on and we are giving it the highest priority…we want to conclude it at the earliest. We are yet to include some key people into the investigation.”
Aryan is said to have been also grilled on the circumstances the previous probe team led by embattled zonal chief Sameer Wankhede investigated him, how he was treated in custody to gauge if he or his family were forced to pay a bribe. The SIT’s list of questions for Aryan included details of his plan and how he got to know about the cruise, and his travel route. Also, if he had planned to do drugs on board the vessel or the drugs were provided on board. Sources said that Aryan was also given the option to dey all the drug-related charges like his lawyers have done in court while applying for his bail. Records show that no contraband was found on Aryan’s person during the raid.
Among the host of questions, was also his WhatsApp chats that were famously cited by Wankhede’s team in court while opposing his bail. The NCB had used the transcripts of Aryan’s WA chats to allege that he was part of an international drug peddling ring and also a ‘larger conspiracy’.
Touching upon the extortion angle, the team is said to have asked Aryan about he was treated in custody given that according to witness statements his parents had refused to give in to demands of crores in bribe money in exchange for his release.
Sameer Wankhede, who is facing a probe himself on charges of extortion, was not part of the team that questioned Aryan on Friday.
The SIT is probing at least six cases including the drugs-on-cruise case. The NCB had raided a cruise ship off the Mumbai coast on October 2 and claimed to have seized drugs. Aryan and several others were held during the raid. The team arrived in Mumbai from Delhi last week and has recorded statements of some important witnesses including Prabhakar Sail who had made allegations of an extortion attempt against NCB officials.
(With PTI inputs)
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