Mumbai, October 3
The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) on Sunday arrested Aryan Khan, son of Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan, and two others in connection with the seizure of banned drugs onboard a cruise ship off the Mumbai coast.
Aryan Khan would be produced before a metropolitan magistrate’s court here shortly.
Advocate Satish Maneshinde would be representing Aryan Khan in court.
Aryan Khan has been booked under various sections of the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act (NDPS) for possession and consumption of banned substances.
He and seven others were detained late Saturday night by NCB sleuths after they raided the cruise ship on its way from Mumbai to Goa.
The action came after the NCB’s dramatic swoop on Saturday evening aboard the Cordelia Cruises deluxe ship as it was preparing for a scheduled Mumbai-Goa voyage, stunning the people, especially in the entertainment industry.
This comes after Khan and six others identified as Munmun Dhamecha, Nupur Sarika, Ismeet Singh, Mohak Jaswal, Vikrant Chhoker, Gomit Chopra, and Arbaaz Merchant were detained.
An NCB official said different drugs like MDMA, ecstasy, cocaine, MD (mephedrone), and charas were recovered from them during the raid conducted on Saturday evening.
Also read: Mumbai cruise rave party: NCB’s Sameer Wankhede rattles Bollywood yet again
Based on a tip-off that a party was scheduled on the ship, an NCB team, led by its zonal director Sameer Wankhede, had raided the Goa-bound Cordelia cruise ship on Saturday evening and recovered drugs from some of the passengers, the official said.
“During the operation, the suspects were searched and different drugs were recovered from them, which they had hidden in their clothes, undergarments, and purses (by women)”.
Early this morning, the NCB questioned the detainees at its office here, he said.
Nothing to do with it, says company
The Cordelia Cruises on Sunday categorically distanced itself from the party.
Jurgen Bailom, CEO and President, Waterways Leisure Tourism Pvt. Ltd., which operates the fleet of luxury ships, said: “I wish to express that 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.” He said that Cordelia Cruises is extremely mindful of providing wholesome entertainment to families who choose to travel with us, “but this incident is contrarian and far from the culture that Cordelia Cruises represents”.
“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,” Bailom said in the statement. — Agencies