Premature to say no evidence against Aryan Khan in Cordelia cruise drugs case: NCB SIT chief

Aryan Khan. File pic

The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) in an official statement on reports of no evidence against Aryan Khan in the Cordelia cruise drugs case has said that "this is highly premature to conclude that there is no evidence against Khan who was arrested last year in October."

Speaking to mid-day, the SIT chief and NCB DDG (operation) Sanjay Singh said, "this is highly premature to say that there is no evidence against Aryan Khan. Our investigation is still in progress and we have recorded multiple statements in this regard, but we have not reached to any conclusion yet."

He further said, "As far as the media reports are concerned, they're not true. These are just speculations and moreover, these reports were not cross-checked with the NCB. The investigation is not yet complete. Nothing can be said at this stage."

The report published in a leading English newspaper claimed that NCB has not found any evidence against Khan and that they have also found various misconducts during the raid led by former NCB Zonal Director Sameer Wankhede.

An NCB team headed by the then Mumbai Zone head, Sameer Wankhede, had conducted a raid on the Cordelia Cruise yacht where a drug party was reportedly underway on the intervening night of October 2 and 3.

Aryan Khan and few others were detained by the team on charges of drug conspiracy and consuming drugs.

Khan was placed under arrest by the NCB team on October 3. After interrogation, he was remanded to judicial custody. His first bail was dismissed by the trial court. Later, Khan through his counsel, approached Bombay High Court which granted him bail on October 28. Due to legal procedures, he was freed from the jail on October 30.

So far, the NCB has arrested 20 people, including two Nigerian nationals.

The NCB's SIT will file a charge sheet in the matter and is currently seeking legal opinion.