No WhatsApp links, no video records: 5 reasons why NCB gave Aryan Khan clean chit

The NCB's deputy director general Sanjay Singh said the previous investigating team couldn't prove the charge of Aryan Khan procuring drugs from his friend Arbaaz Merchant. He added that the WhatsApp chats of Aryan Khan didn't link him to the drugs case.

Eight months after he was arrested by the Narcotics Bureau in the Mumbai drug bust case, Aryan Khan was on Friday given a clean chit by the special investigation team of the anti-drug agency. Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan's son along with five others were not included in the chargesheet filed by the NCB.

Sanjay Kumar Singh, the deputy director general of the NCB who headed the SIT, while speaking to Hindustan Times, explained the premises which led to the clean chit to Aryan Khan.

1. The Narcotics Bureau had told in court that Aryan Khan used to procure contraband from his friend Arbaaz Merchant, who is among the 14 people chargesheeted by the SIT. Singh told Hindustan Times that the previous investigation team headed by then zonal director Sameer could not prove the charges. According to the SIT head, Arbaaz told the officials that Aryan Khan had told him not to bring drugs. “As the drug consumption charge against Aryan didn’t stick, so his phone was opened without following legal procedure,” he added.

2. The NCB team while citing WhatsApp chats had told court that the superstar's son was a part of an international drug racket and spoke of the modes of payment to procure drugs. The SIT probe found that the WhatsApp chats on Khan's phone didn't link him to the case. “ The courts have said that WhatsApp chats cannot be used as primary evidence,” Sanjay Singh said.

Aryan Khan was arrested during a raid on the yacht Cordelia on October 3. He was released from Mumbai's Arthur Road Jail after spending 22 days in prison.  (AFP)

3. The NCB deputy director general pointed to three key lacunae in the investigation carried out by the previous NCB team. Firstly, Wankhede's team didn't record the raids carried out on the Cordelia cruise bust. Secondly, no medical examination was conducted on anyone including Aryan Khan. There were lapses in the seizure of the mobile phone of the accused. Singh also said that the WhatsApp chats from Aryan's phone were taken without following legal procedures.

4. Prabhakar Sail, one of the witnesses in the case told SIT that he was made to sign blank papers by the previous investigating team led by Wankhede. Singh said that blanket arrests were made under similar charges which were not legally tenable. Sail died of heart attack at his residence on April 2.

5. The SIT head told Hindustan Times that the four Cordelia event organisers who were arrested had no knowledge about any drugs. “We checked their contract and found they were not responsible for frisking, checking and ensuring people boarding were going to consume drugs on the cruise,” he said.