‘Aryan victimised for being SRK’s son’: Digvijaya Singh tweets; BJP says stop ‘appeasement politics’

In his tweet, former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Digvijaya Singh asked about the case of Mundra port in BJP’s stronghold Gujarat from where 3,000kg of Afghan heroin worth ₹21,000 crore in international markets was recovered last month.

Congress leader Digvijaya Singh on Saturday said it’s “sad” that Aryan Khan, who is lodged at Mumbai’s Arthur Road Jail in cruise ship drugs’ case, is being “victimised” for being Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan’s son. “What is his crime? Someone accompanying him had 5 gms of drugs with him!! What about tonnes of heroin seized at Mundra Port? Who is Kuldeep Singh? Would NCB and now [the] NIA investigating this case please tell us?” he tweeted.

Aryan Khan's bail plea in cruise ship drugs' case will next be heard by Bombay High Court on October 26.

The former Madhya Pradesh chief minister posted the message on the micro-blogging site as a reply to another user named Dushyant, who tweeted an edited video of a much younger Shah Rukh talking about his wife, sister and children at the television show ‘Koffee with Karan’.

However, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Madhya Pradesh hit back at the Rajya Sabha MP by saying that he has “finally” taken to the field in order to rescue Aryan. In a statement on Twitter, the saffron party said, “The matter is right now sub-judice, the investigating agency is checking the facts but he (Singh) has given his verdict! After all, for how long will you continue to mislead people by doing politics of appeasement?”

Aryan, who has been in judicial custody since October 7 after the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) raided a cruise ship – Cordelia, off the Mumbai coast earlier this month, will have to remain in jail till October 26 when the Bombay High Court will hear his bail application. The special Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) court on Wednesday rejected the 23-year-old’s bail plea along with actor Arbaaz Merchant and model Munmun Dhamecha.

Following the latest dismissal of bail application, Shah Rukh visited his son for the first time since Aryan’s arrest on Thursday. The actor spoke with Aryan for 15 to 20 minutes on the intercom with a glass fencing separating them and four guards present.

On the other hand, the Mundra port case was unearthed last month after Hindustan Times exclusively reported the seizure of 3,000kg of Afghan heroin worth approximately ₹21,000 crore in the international markets by the Directorate of Revenue and Intelligence (DRI) from two containers at the Gujarat location.

The consignment originated from now Taliban-ruled Afghanistan and was shipped to Gujarat via Iran’s Bandar Abbas Port. It was hidden inside containers of semi-processed Afghan talc.

At least eight persons have been arrested so far in the case, including Afghan and Uzbek nationals. Earlier this month, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) took over the investigation.