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Probe widens: NCB knocks SRK’s door, quizzes Ananya
Aryan is lodged in Arthur Road jail for alleged consumption and conspiracy under the stringent NDPS Act after the NCB raided a Goa-bound holiday cruise ship on October 2 and recovered multiple drugs
The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) on Thursday expanded its probe into drugs found on a cruise ship three weeks ago, questioning Bollywood actor Ananya Panday for two hours and visiting actor Shah Rukh Khan’s home in Mumbai to collect evidence in connection with charges against his son Aryan Khan.
NCB officials said Panday, 22, was called in for questioning after investigators found relevant WhatsApp conversations between her and Aryan, 23, who is in jail on drug consumption and conspiracy charges. She visited the NCB office accompanied by her father Chunky Panday to record her statement and is scheduled to appear before the agency on Friday, said officials.
An NCB team searched her house in the morning, and seized her mobile phone and laptop. Later in the day, a five-member NCB team visited Khan’s home in Bandra to collect evidence in connection with the case and left after half an hour.
“Today, a team of NCB Mumbai Zonal Unit Officials visited Mannat, the residence of Aryan Khan in connection with CR 94/21 (Aryan Khan cruise drug case) for seeking certain material related to the investigation of the case from Shah Rukh Khan, father of Aryan Khan by following due procedure of notice etc. It wasn’t a raid as erroneously reported in certain sections/channels of media,” said Sameer Wankhede, NCB’s Mumbai zonal director.
The day began with the 55-year-old Khan visiting his son at Arthur Road jail for the first time since he was arrested on October 3. Khan reached the jail at 9.15am, spoke to Aryan for 15 minutes over an intercom system and separated by a glass wall, said a prison official. He left the jail surrounded by body guards at 9.40am, briefly greeting the crowd gathered outside. This was the first day that family visits resumed at the jail after a pandemic-enforced six-month break.
“The actor was allowed to meet his son, as per the prison manual, like any other family member of a prisoner and no special treatment was given to him,” said a second prison official on condition of anonymity. “Four guards were present along with them during their conversation,” the official added.
Aryan is lodged in Arthur Road jail for alleged consumption and conspiracy under the stringent Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act after the NCB raided Cordelia, a Goa-bound holiday cruise ship on October 2 and recovered multiple drugs, including 13 grams of cocaine, 5 grams of mephedrone, 21 grams of Charas, and 22 pills of MDMA (ecstasy), and ₹1.33 lakh in cash.
Wankhede had led the raid on the cruise ship, docked at Mumbai’s International Cruise Terminal at Green Gate on October 2. Since then, 20 people, including Delhi-based event management professionals, Nigerian nationals, and Mumbai-based drug peddlers, have been arrested under various sections of the NDPS Act.
The NCB sought Aryan’s custody, claiming that his WhatsApp chats revealed that he was in touch with a person abroad who appeared to be part of an international drug trafficking network. On Wednesday, a special NDPS court denied him bail, saying there was prima facie evidence that the 23-year-old was indulging in “illicit drug activities” on a regular basis, and could commit a similar offence if released.
Aryan approached the Bombay high court (HC) for bail, but the court posted the bail application hearing to October 26 even as a special court extended his judicial custody to October 30.
Aryan has already received ₹4,500 (the maximum permissible amount for an inmate in a month) from his family to buy eatables and other items from the jail canteen. Aryan had earlier spoken to his family over a video call a few days ago.
ANY COMMENT ON WHAT PANDAY SAID IN HER STATEMENT?
Since Aryan’s arrest on October 3, noted film personalities, including Hrithik Roshan, Zoya Akhtar, Farah Khan and Raveena Tandon, have expressed their solidarity with Khan and his wife Gauri. Salman Khan has also visited the couple several times. “My heart is broken for SRK. May there be light at the end of the tunnel,” director Alankrita Shrivastava said in a tweet.
(With inputs from agencies)
