New Delhi: The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) while giving a clean chit to Aryan Khan, son of Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan, in the last year's drugs-on-cruise case has said that there was no recovery of drugs from him, nor was there any concrete evidence to prove that he conspired with the other accused.
It has also said that as per actor Ananya Pandey's statement to the agency, the reference to `weed procurement' in the mobile phone chats between the two was only an extended joke. The NCB on Friday filed a charge-sheet in a Mumbai court against 14 out of 20 persons who were arrested in the case last October following a raid on a cruise ship and alleged seizure of drugs.
Six accused, including Aryan Khan, were not named due to lack of evidence, the central agency said. Analysis of statements of Arbaaz Merchant, a co-accused, showed that Merchant never claimed that the 6 gm 'charas' recovered from his possession was meant for consumption by Aryan, the charge-sheet noted.
Aryan too, in his voluntary statements, never accepted that the recovered charas was meant for him, it added. "In fact, Arbaaz in his statement of October 6, 2021, stated that he was warned by Aryan Khan not to carry any narcotic drug on to the cruise," the NCB said. Also, none of the chats recovered from Aryan's mobile phone (which had not been formally seized) connected him to the present case, it said.
Also read: NCB gives clean chit to Aryan Khan in drugs-on-cruise case
"No recovery of drugs from Aryan Khan and non-availability of any concrete evidence which could prove role of Aryan Khan or his conspiracy with Arbaaz A Merchant or any other accused in the instant case beyond reasonable doubt, surfaced up during the investigation carried so far. Hence, no complaint is being filed against him in the instant case," the charge-sheet said.
NCB chief SN Pradhan said WhatsApp chats without physical evidence hold "no value". He said that a person can talk about anything on WhatsApp, but without physical existence, it's not complete evidence. "There should be physical corroboration of WhatsApp chat. Courts have clarified that WhatsApp chat, in itself, holds no value. You can talk about anything on WhatsApp but if not corroborated with physical evidence, it's not complete evidence," the NCB head told media persons.
The NCB chief further clarified that there should be beyond a reasonable doubt, that the officials did not find. "The principle of preponderance and probability is not applicable to NDPS Act. There should be beyond a reasonable doubt, that we did not find such evidence," he added. NCB has not filed any complaint against Aryan Khan and five others in the alleged cruise drug bust case due to a lack of "sufficient" evidence.
But the charge sheet mentioned that in one of his statements, Aryan accepted that he had consumed marijuana when he was in Los Angeles, United States "on experimental basis for recreational purpose," and also accepted his WhatsApp chats with another accused Aachit for drug procurement.
Aryan stated that they talked about buying "Dokha", a word used for weed, it said. Aryan also admitted to his chat conversation with actor Ananya Pandey regarding weed procurement, the charge-sheet claimed. But Ananya, in her statement, said the chats related to weed were "in jest and it was a joke in an attempt to be funny," the charge-sheet said.
"She told (the agency) that all the chats held with Aryan were an extension of the same joke as mentioned earlier. Ananya Pandey told that Aryan is lying and she is completely unaware why Aryan said something like this," the charge-sheet claimed. Upon search of her house no illicit contraband was found, however, some electronic gadgets were seized, the charge-sheet said. (with Agency inputs)
