- Sunday, April 28, 2024
By: Shubham Ghosh
ARYAN Khan, the 23-year-old son of Indian actor Shah Rukh Khan was on Sunday (3) arrested along with two others following a raid at a party on a cruise ship off the coast of Mumbai, the country’s financial capital, on Saturday (2) night by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB). They were sent to NCB custody till Monday (4) when the next hearing will take place.
The young Khan was among eight people, including two women, who were questioned after the raids.
The superstar actor, 55, was seen leaving his residence and heading for his lawyer’s office shortly before the arrest of his son, the eldest of his three children, was confirmed. He was likely to cancel the shooting of an upcoming film in Spain. Aryan’s mother Gauri Khan is a film producer and designer.
The high-profile raid resulted in recovery of 13 grams of cocaine, 21 grams of charas and 22 pills of synthetic drug MDMA, the NCB said. The charges brought against the son of the star actor include purchase, possession and use of banned substances, it added.
“All eight, including Aryan Khan, are being questioned. Based on their statements further action will be taken,” the anti-drugs agency had revealed in an earlier statement.
The NCB officials boarded the Goa-bound ship in the guise of passengers, according to sources. Officials said the party began once the ship left Mumbai’s shores and was at sea.
During the operation, the suspects were searched and various drugs were found from them, which they had reportedly hidden in their clothes, undergarments and purses.
“Their statements are being recorded. Based on the facts, arrests will be made and the accused will be produced in the NDPS court,” a senior NCB official told Indian news channel NDTV.
The cruise company – Cordelia Cruises – said in a statement on Sunday that it had nothing to do with the incident.
“Cordelia Cruises is in no way, directly or indirectly, connected to this incident. Cordelia Cruises had chartered its ship for a private event to a Delhi-based event management company,” Jurgen Bailom, chief executive officer and president, Waterways Leisure Tourism Pvt Ltd said in the statement.
“We, at Cordelia Cruises, condemn all acts such as these and will strictly refrain from letting our ship out for similar events in the future. Nonetheless, Cordelia Cruises is extending our full support and cooperating with the authorities,” it said.
Meanwhile, the matter also took a political colour as the Indian National Congress, which is a part of the government of Maharashtra, said on Sunday that the raid and subsequent action on the ship was an attempt to divert attention from the issue of recent drug seizure at the Mundra port in the neighbouring Gujarat where the Bharatiya Janata Party, the party of prime minister Narendra Modi, is in power.
