Aryan Khan drugs case: Will ensure fair and impartial investigation, says NCB SIT chief

Mumbai: Deputy Director-General Sanjay Kumar Singh heading the Special Investigation Team (SIT) of Narcotics Control Bureau Headquarters has said that a fair and impartial investigation will be done in the six cases taken over by his team from NCB Mumbai including the drugs-on-cruise case involving Aryan Khan.

"We have started the investigation, we will do whatever a fair and impartial investigation demands," said Kumar.

The SIT arrived in Mumbai on Saturday. Earlier, speaking to the media persons at Mumbai airport, Kumar said, "We have taken over a group of 6 cases. He (Sameer Wankhede) is the zonal director of Mumbai, we will definitely take his assistance in the investigation."

Also, a senior NCB official said that Sameer Wankhede is an Officer of Zonal Director Rank which is equivalent to the rank of a Deputy Inspector General (DIG) and such a senior officer does not become the investigating officer of any case.

"He/she just supervises any investigation of the zone. So, it’s baseless to say that Sameer Wankhede will cease to investigate these 6 cases. Actually, he was never investigating these cases," he said.

An NCB team busted an alleged drugs party on a Cruise ship that was on its way to Goa at mid-sea on October 2. A total of 20 people, including two Nigerian nationals and Aryan Khan, have been arrested so far in the case. 

Meanwhile, a city-based businessman claimed on Saturday that he was privy to how Aryan Khan, actor Shah Rukh Khan's son, was "framed up" in the NCB's alleged drug bust on a cruise ship off the Mumbai coast.

Aryan (23), who got bail from the high court after spending three weeks in prison following his arrest on October 3, was implicated by some people to make money, businessman Vijay Pagare told Marathi news channels.

It was a pre-planned raid, he said, further claiming that he knew the people involved in this episode, including an NCB witness whose selfie with Aryan had gone viral.